


Brotherhood of the Shell

by Troll_Theorist



Series: An Alternate Universe Infinity Train [2]
Category: Infinity Train (Cartoon)
Genre: Continuation of "You Must Become the Ghom", Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 41,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27740734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Troll_Theorist/pseuds/Troll_Theorist
Summary: In an alternate universe, One-One solved the Apex problem, but the consequences remain. Now he is concerned with the twin turtles in power armor ransacking his train. Can Amelia stop them? *Infinity Train belongs to Owen Dennis*
Series: An Alternate Universe Infinity Train [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2029237
Kudos: 1





	1. The Hardware Store Car

  
  
Among the green, grassy hills, Amelia lay on her back, watching the blue sky while sinking deep into her thoughts. It felt good to just enjoy some peace and quiet after a hard day's work, but somewhere at the back of her mind a memory kept lingering.

In her younger days, Amelia would spend her free time in such calm surroundings with Alrick, the love of her life. They were so happy together … until the day death suddenly tore him away from her. Why did it have to be dirt biking?

Her left hand grasped the grass, which went between her fingers. What good was this place and the bliss it provided when she had nobody to share it with? So many years spent on the wannabe therapy train and she was still just as lonely as during her arrival.

She looked at the number on her right hand. The 49 glowed bright green. It refused to budge for the past two weeks, no matter how many denizens and passengers she helped. The conclusion she had reached was that her remaining problems weren't solvable simply by helping others. Some of them stemmed from loneliness, and the others represented her guilt. It was too late to solve the latter ones. At best time would heal those. But for the first types, she thought that opening up to her long-distance friends might be the best solution. So she sat up, crossed her legs, and searched through her bag for something. It was a red device similar to, but slightly smaller than, the average laptop. She used its touchpad to initiate composing a new e-mail, then began typing out her message.

* * *

**To: Hazel Hughes  
Subject: Dear Hazel and Grace**

**How are you today? How was school and work?  
I am doing everything I can to lower my number, but it has been two weeks with no change. Maybe it is because I miss you two. But I know we will be seeing each other again if I get off the train, so that cannot be it.**

**Maybe I still haven't truly gotten over Alrick's death. I do not know what it would take for me to finally be at peace with the idea that he is gone forever. When I am not busy doing my job, my thoughts often drift toward him. In the rare cases when I am not thinking of Alrick, I am plagued by guilt because I remember the things I've done and the people I've hurt or pushed away.**

**I hope you two are doing better out there. I wish I could join you and talk with you over a cup of tea or some pancakes. Or both. Oh well. Maybe someday.**

**Amelia Hughes  
**

* * *

She hit send and received confirmation that the message had been sent. Immediately after, the device announced that a new e-mail had just arrived. It couldn't be from Hazel and Grace. It would normally take anywhere between an hour or two before an e-mail would reach outside of the train's realm. She checked the sender's name. It was that little peanut. The Conductor.

* * *

**Sender: One  
Subject: Dear Amelia**

**I know you have been doing a great job keeping order among the turtle cars, but I am afraid there has been a teensy-weensy bit of a problem that appears to have originated from one of them. One will send you the details.**

**One  
**

* * *

She growled a sigh. Why couldn't he send her the details the first time?

Another e-mail arrived.

* * *

**Sender: One  
Subject: Details regarding the turtles incident**

**Two of your patchwork turtle denizens escaped their car, somehow acquired power armors, and are now ransacking my train. Can you stop them, please?  
Or don't. If they come here, maybe they can bring me the swift release of death. I'm okay with either scenario.**

**One  
**

* * *

Amelia sat there staring at the screen while wondering which of her creations had the skills and the reasons to do such a thing. She thought she knew them all after talking to each and every one of the turtle denizens from the cars she had created and sent at the back of the train. It couldn't be Emperor Aloysius III, or Kevin, or Kevin's son or wife, or … She needed more details, so she wrote back to One-One.

* * *

**To: One  
Subject: Please provide a description of the rogue turtles**

**I cannot think of a single turtle denizen who has expressed dissatisfaction regarding their car or life in general. It is unlikely, but there may still be some of my creations that I have yet to meet. Although how they got out of their car during the time the scanner was active is beyond me.**

**Amelia Hughes  
**

* * *

Since the e-mail's recipient was on the train, it took only a minute before she received a reply.

* * *

**Sender: One  
Subject: Turtles description**

**An eyewitness from the friendly eyeballs car said the turtles had gray power armor on, and golden, fluffy stuff coming from their heads. He also said they had plans of reaching the front of the train.**

**One  
**

* * *

Amelia was sure there would be another message following that one.

* * *

**Sender: One  
Subject: Regarding the turtles' description**

**Said eyewitness was an eyeball with nearsightedness. I wouldn't trust that description.**

**One  
**

* * *

She shook her head. Still, a witness – even one with poor vision – was better than none at all. Gray power armor and something golden coming from their heads. That last part sounded like it could be either long hair like Hazel's, or some kind of weird helmets. If it was hair, then those were two turtle denizens she had never met before. If they wore strange helmets, then either of them could have been any of her creations. Maybe not the emperor, because he wasn't the type to cause trouble or crave a life of action. She wrote back to One-One.

* * *

**To: One  
Subject: I'm on it**

**I will search all cars, starting with the one you've mentioned.**

**Amelia Hughes  
**

* * *

After sending the e-mail, she snapped the device shut and put it in her bag. She got up and walked through the broken door at the bottom of a hill that had a face.

* * *

Twelve cars later, Amelia found herself inside a car filled with mountains of cross-eyed mallards that shouted useful advice such as "When you seem to be stuck, remember there are more ways than one to solve a car's puzzles," or "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade," or "If you are scared of ducks, it is better to avoid this car."

Once she reached the door on the other end and opened it, she enjoyed the fresh air that came from outside. It smelled like a farm in there.

The next car turned out to be a hardware store, having lots of shelves stocked full of everything one would need for their home. Amelia noticed there were rabbit, pig, and cow denizens who were hiding behind the shelves, shaking and looking around frantically. Something wasn't right.

She approached a gray rabbit and went into interrogation mode. "What is happening here? Who caused this panic?"

"The Apex," the rabbit said in a whisper.

Amelia's mouth remained open for a full second. "But the Apex was dissolved months ago. The few former members who still remain on the train are either dedicated to helping people or working on their own problems." She paused as her eyes went wide. "Oh. Oh no. Did the universe intersection car start leaking again? Where are the offenders?"

The rabbit pointed in the requested direction and said, "At the center of the store. They're taking things off the shelves and throwing them into their backpacks."

"I'll go deal with them," Amelia said, lifting the hair from her forehead with her right hand. "You and the others should leave the store. Things might get messy."

The rabbit nodded to her and slowly hopped toward the door. He was shortly followed by the other denizens nearby as evacuation started.

Amelia marched on, adrenaline preparing her for battle. If they were an alternate Apex group, she was ready to face their shenanigans since she had a harpoon pack of her own thanks to Grace.

At the center of the store, much to Amelia's delight, there were two turtles in gray mechanical suits that made them seem like mini mechas. Both turtles were only slightly taller than her, and had jade skin and messy, golden hair reaching halfway down their backs. One turtle looked more like a tortoise, judging by the sharp beak similar to Kevin's and Aloysius', and had angular, red shades on. The other was one of the rarer types of turtle denizens – a softshell, judging by the pointy nose with two nostrils at its tip.

The tortoise denizen grabbed all the packs of bolts he could find off the shelf and, after pushing the left triangular button on his armor's chest, threw them inside his mechanical backpack. Once he was done, he pressed the same triangle and his backpack closed up.

The softshell denizen grabbed three packs of nuts and threw them inside his own mechanical backpack.

"I think we have enough spares," the tortoise said in a voice that sounded exactly like Alrick's, down to the British accent.

"Then let's go," the softshell said with the voice and American accent of another dead man Amelia once knew.

Amelia stepped in. "Wait!"

The turtles focused on her.

"You are the turtles I've been looking for," she said.

The turtles gave her nasty looks.

"Great," the softshell said. "Another member of the security sent to arrest us and to tell us 'Stealing is wrong!' and 'Get a job!' "

The tortoise added, "If you people gave us a chance to get a job, then we wouldn't be forced to steal to survive. But you all tried to lynch us from the moment you've met us, just because we look like those who have hurt you!"

The softshell took a few steps back while not letting her out of his sight. "Just stay off our backs, lady! Contrary to what people say, we've never actually left behind any casualties, and we hope to keep it that way."

"Bro, let's get out of here before more of them come," the tortoise said.

"Don't go!" she said, holding her hands in front of herself to show she was no threat. "Listen! I'm Amelia! Amelia Hughes!"

The turtles remained still, with their jaws drooping.

"Why does that name sound familiar?" the softshell asked.

"She kind of looks like the woman from my dreams," the tortoise said, squinting at Amelia. "But she's old. This is getting too creepy for me. We must leave, now!"

They turned away and ran through the store, with Amelia hot on their trail. She was glad that she had worked on all of her muscles during her time as One-One's employee, because she needed to be faster than the average elderly person if she wanted to catch two humanoid turtles in power armor. At least she could run fast enough to always keep them in her line of sight no matter how much they tried to lose her.

The other door that led outside was punched open by the turtle duo, pieces of it being sent flying to the wheels.

"To the top!" the tortoise said. He and his brother prepared to jump before their armors' feet emitted blue jets that sent them flying all the way to the top of the next car.

This was the perfect time for Amelia to use her harpoon pack. She pointed the harpoons at the next car and launched them, then pulled herself toward it before climbing to the top. She saw the turtles had already put one car distance between her and them, so she hurried up.

The turtle duo made use of their jet propulsion feet each time they reached the end of a car. It was a much more efficient way of hopping from car to car compared to the harpoon pack, but Amelia kept going. Once she managed to be on the same car as her targets, she decided to do something wild.

Just as the turtles were preparing to jump onto the next car, the tortoise heard a loud clang that came from his back. He looked over his right shoulder and saw Amelia's harpoons stuck to his armor.

Amelia pulled herself toward him, grinning. Now she caught him!

The tortoise made his armor's feet release a short jet burst before he kicked at Amelia with both of his legs. Her sound shield activated and pushed him away toward the other car while the harpoons flew back at her like the ends of rubber bands. She ended up falling on her back.

The softshell stared down at her, concern readable on his face. He wanted to ask her if she was okay, but decided to jet away to the next car instead.

Amelia got back on her feet and picked up the chase. "Please! I don't want to hurt you!"

But the turtles kept running.

She caught up to them again and decided to aim for the end of the car instead of the turtles. Landing in front of them, she spread her arms in an attempt to block their path. "Listen! I can help you!"

The softshell pointed his power armor's right index finger at her. "Lies! People have tried to fool us through more creative methods, lady. We're not dumb, you know."

Amelia scowled at him. That display of skepticism was all too familiar to her, but it had been several months since she had last dealt with it. She suspected this turtle was very likely to give her a difficult time when it came to gaining his trust. It didn't help that he had that voice she had last heard two weeks ago for what she thought was the last time.

The tortoise glared at her and said, "We just want to be left alone. Is that too much to ask?"

She pointed at him. "You need to listen! We're family!"

"Go away!" the tortoise yelled before pushing her with both of his arms.

Her sound shield activated and countered the hits, but she ended up being pushed away by the armor's force. She tried to catch up by pulling herself ahead of them with the harpoons again, but the tortoise kicked her to the other end of the car. After she pulled the same stunt, the softshell joined in, punching and kicking at her sound bubble to launch her back. They continued like this, jumping from car to car.

"I've got an idea," the tortoise said. "Keep pushing her away. I need to catch a window of opportunity."

"Will you just listen?" Amelia asked, tired of getting pushed around.

The softshell kicked her sound bubble three more times and delivered a punch.

The tortoise landed on the next car, put his armor's hands wrist to wrist, and opened the hatches of their palms. He yelled, "Hadoken!" as the hatches launched a purple goo.

It hit Amelia in the chest, splattering over her face and ruining her uniform. It was sticky and smelled familiarly sweet.

"Really, bro?" the softshell asked, joining his brother atop the next car. "You've wasted all that jam just to do that?"

The tortoise shrugged. "What? I've always wanted to pull it off in real life."

Amelia grabbed some of the jam with her right hand. It smeared over her number as she looked at it. "Alrick ..."

The tortoise froze in shock.

The softshell looked at him. "Dude, did she just say your name?"

The tortoise glared at Amelia while saying, "This is crazy. We need to get as far away from her as possible. She's leaving me no choice."

His brother frowned. "Are you going to ...?"

Amelia was standing again, ready to launch herself at the next car.

Alrick raised his armor's right fist and, in a high pitched voice, yelled, "Ragh ragh raagh!"

Three ghoms burst out of the wasteland's soil, flew up with their buzzing wings, then landed atop the car and faced the turtles.

Alrick growled at them. Their response was to bow and back off. He shouted, "Raagh!" while pointing at Amelia.

The ghoms flew at her and got repelled over and over by her sound shield. Their chittering attracted more and more ghoms until there was a swarm forming a pulsating black bubble around her.

Once the turtles were two cars away from Amelia, Alrick made a chittering sound, causing the doglike insects to disperse and fly after him and his brother.

Amelia panted while staring at the turtles and the swarm that left her behind. "What have I created?"


	2. The Gingerbread Car

Amelia walked through a field of dry grass, passing by hundreds of hay stacks that were sprinkled throughout the car. The sky was orange due to the permanent sunset of the place.

A beeping sound came from her backpack. She immediately opened it and took out the red device to check her e-mail. She smiled when she noticed the sender's name.

* * *

**Sender: Hazel Hughes  
Subject: Dear Mom**

**First day of school went great. I've met my classmates. They're all nice kids except for one boy who kept picking on others, but I scared him away so the bullied kids could have peace. No, I didn't use my turtle form. Grace said I can't reveal that to them just yet. We'll have to wait until the humans get used to the idea of the train being real.**

**The good news is that there is a spokesperson for the train out here. Remember the chrome denizen One-One talked to us about on the day we turned Simon back into a human? She calls herself Lake now, and she hosts her own talk show alongside her friend Jesse Cosay! And one time they even invited Tulip Olsen, who is Lake's prime and was a former passenger! This will help humans understand denizens better, and maybe even prepare people before they board the train.**

**Grace is doing fine too. She loves her job, and she even taught me a few new dances. She said it's the least she can do to repay me for helping her when we were in that debutante ball car.**

**I hope you find what you need to get your number down. Grace and I will be waiting for you when you'll get your exit. I just know you will get it.**

**Love, Hazel & Grace.  
**

* * *

Still walking, Amelia held the device with her left hand and typed with her right.

* * *

**To: Hazel Hughes  
Subject: Dear Hazel and Grace**

**I agree with Grace. It is good to be cautious at this time. But I do have hope that one day humans and denizens will live together as allies.**

**Speaking of denizens, One has found two more of your siblings, and I have met them. Unfortunately, gaining their trust is proving to be difficult. They are equipped with power armours, and one of them sent a swarm of ghoms my way, then called them off as they both escaped. I will keep you updated on how this mission goes.**

**Amelia Hughes  
**

* * *

She sent the message and put the e-mailing machine into her backpack, then continued walking until she finally found the door. After opening it, she looked around outside, making sure the turtle brothers hadn't prepared an ambush for her. No signs of turtles or any other living thing in sight. It was safe to continue to the next car.

* * *

After opening the doors, Amelia found herself in a place she had visited before. The smell of vanilla and gingerbread always charmed her nose when she passed through this car. Since she was hungry, it also made her mouth water and her stomach growl this time.

All buildings and tree trunks were made of dark brown gingerbread, the roads were made of white fondant, and the grass and tree leaves were made of green sugar. It made her even hungrier. However, she knew that eating the scenery was considered a felony around there. The signs on the sides of the road outright said, "Do not consume the surroundings!"

The inhabitants of the car were gingerbread people with various sugary decorations on them as clothes. They all smiled at Amelia as she passed by. She was glad that she had never wronged them during her time as the False Conductor. They were high up on the list of most welcoming denizens she had ever encountered during her 33 years on the train.

She saw a familiar gingerbread lady with a muffin cart to the right of the road. "Good day, Miss Gumdrops! How's your business going?"

The gingerbread lady smiled at her and said, "Good day to you too, Miss Amelia! It's going very well; I'm almost out of muffins." She grabbed a box of six muffins and handed them to Amelia. "Here, take these. They're on the house."

Amelia's stomach was saved! She took the muffin box while her face radiated of happiness. "Thank you so much! I just happened to run out of food today and didn't have time to acquire more. One sent me on an unexpected mission." She glanced to the sides. "Have you seen two turtle denizens dressed in tech-heavy armours?"

Gumdrops shook her head. "Can't say I have. Just gingerbread people and gingerbread critters all day."

"Looks like I'll have to keep searching," Amelia said. Her stomach growled, and she looked at the muffins. "But first I have to find a place where I can sit and eat these."

* * *

After walking a bit further into the car's world, Amelia found a good spot where she could enjoy her muffins. It was a place with grass to sit on, and a lake and blue sky to keep the atmosphere calm. The sun, although made of fondant and having yellow and gold spirals, still emitted warmth.

Little did Amelia know that she was being watched. The turtle brothers peeked from behind a thick but short, gnarly tree that had minty leaves and gingerbread bark.

"She's persistent, I'll give her that," Alrick said. "I want to know more about her, but at the same time something tells me I should be scared of her. I don't know why."

"She seems like a nice lady to me," his brother said. "She tried to solve things peacefully."

Alrick glared at him. "Remember what happened the last time someone treated us with kindness and we thought we've finally found a place to call home?"

The softshell frowned. "Yeah, those hedgehogs almost succeeded in trapping us."

"We're lucky the worst they've managed to do to us was turn us into pincushions for their quills," Alrick said.

"So, what do you suggest we do about her, bro?"

The tortoise opened a metal hatch on his armor's right lower arm. It showed a black screen with a green dot and a red arrow pointing at the dot. "Here's the plan: you gain her trust and get her to tell you everything about herself, then you seek my signal and come find me."

"Sure," the softshell said. "I'll go talk to her." He started walking toward Amelia.

Alrick grabbed him by the right arm and pulled him back behind the tree. "Are you raving mad, bro? You can't just walk up to someone and suggest an alliance after you've fought with them. She'll get suspicious."

"Then how am I supposed to make her trust me?"

Alrick smirked at his brother before saying, "You make her think she has earned _your_ trust first."

* * *

Amelia had just finished her third muffin when she heard someone shout nearby. She couldn't tell what they were saying, but she had a feeling she'd have to intervene if things didn't calm down.

The one making the racket was the softshell, who raised his fists and stomped the ground. "Come on! None of you recognize me?"

The gingerbread denizens just passed him by, ignoring him. One of them said, "Poor guy has lost his mind."

"Okay," the softshell said, "you don't recognize me while I look like this." His face morphed until he looked like a pale human. "Do you remember me now?"

Most denizens stared at him for a second, then passed him by. A few commented on what a neat trick he did, then went on their merry way too.

"You can't be serious!" the softshell said, covering his face with both of his palms in defeat. He raised his hands in the air and waved them. "Everyone else attacked me when I looked like this. Does the word 'Apex' even ring a bell?"

A gingerbread lady arrived at the scene and said, "Apex?" She looked at the softshell's face and pointed at him with her fingerless hand. "He's one of the leaders of those scoundrels who ate my entire family! He ate my sister and my father!"

"Yeah, I … definitely did! They were delicious!" the softshell said, struggling to keep a fake grin of madness on his face. Internally, he wanted to cry.

Seconds later, there was an angry mob chasing him down the street with torches and pitchforks.

Amelia decided to step up and see what was going on. She was shocked to see … "Simon?!"

The softshell hid behind her and curled up into a ball. "Please, don't let them kill me!"

"How in the world did you–" She had to turn and face the mob. With her palm held before the denizens, she yelled "Stop!"

The gingerbread people halted, still fuming and ready for a fight.

"On behalf of the Conductor, I request that you leave this denizen to me," Amelia said while pointing at the turtle. "One wants this denizen to be taken to the corresponding car, where he will be judged."

"Hey, I thought the Apex don't accept denizens!" a gingerbread man said.

"The Apex is no more," she said. "Their leader has left the train, and her second in command is dead." She looked at the curled up turtle denizen. "Or at least _was_ dead last I checked."

The softshell said, "Please, I didn't do any of that! I was just … ready to give up and accept that I'll always be blamed for someone else's crimes."

Amelia crossed her arms. "Get up!"

After he uncurled, she could see his face better. Most of it looked like Simon's. The only detail missing was the stubble.

"Are you Simon?" Amelia asked.

"No, ma'am. People call me lots of things lately: hooligan, scoundrel, killer, monster, Apex scum … I prefer to be called Jam." After seeing that Amelia stared at him in disbelief, he said, "What? It's my favorite food. Why wouldn't I name myself after it?"

Amelia took out her turtle-themed handkerchief and wiped the sweat off her forehead. "This doesn't make any sense. I've dismantled the scanner as soon as I became One's employee. There was no way for Simon to get scanned."

"Who is this Simon person you keep talking about?" Jam asked, waving his arms in frustration.

Amelia searched through her backpack. She brought out a photo in which she was with a dark-skinned young woman with short dreadlocks, a little girl with olive skin and blond hair, and a young man with pale skin and blond hair tied in a ponytail. The blond man had green glowing numbers all the way up to his neck. Everyone in the photo was smiling. "Simon was my coworker. You can see him on the left in the photo."

Jam gasped. "He looks like me if I'd shave less frequently and if I'd cut my hair shorter and straighten it!"

She put the photo back into her backpack. "The poor fool locked himself in his room and watched his own tape unsupervised. It showed him that he couldn't get over not having his friends around, so he became trapped and unable to call for help for a whole week. The kids and teenagers who noticed he went missing for so long broke into his room and found that he had wasted away."

"Weren't you one of his friends?" Jam asked.

The crowd slowly backed off, each denizen returning to where they needed to be. A few still shot nasty glances in Jam's direction.

It took Amelia a moment to answer. "We weren't friends. More like reluctant allies. Simon and I used to be enemies until One turned him into a ghom and I helped bring him to One to have him changed back into a human."

Jam stared at her wide-eyed. "People can get turned into ghoms?!"

"Yes, with the right tools. Speaking of ghoms, I noticed your brother can call them to his aid."

Jam grinned. "Yeah! I can do that too, but they see him as more dominant, so they respect him more. I tend to get munched on by them because I fail to stand up for myself."

Amelia squinted at him. "Is speaking ghom language an innate skill to you, or did you learn it?"

"I don't know," Jam said, scratching the back of his head. "It might have something to do with the ghom that died protecting us in a familiar house while we were unconscious."

Amelia burst into laughter.

Jam stared at her, wondering if the lady had lost her marbles and if he should run away.

She finally spoke. "I'm guessing this dead ghom you've mentioned was on or near a sofa, in a room where there was a red rug, a table, a jar of blackcurrant jam, a video game console, a TV, and a pair of red glasses."

"Yes," Jam said.

"You and your brother _were_ the ghom!"

It was Jam's turn to squint at her. "You're not making any sense, lady."

She smiled. "I have some explaining to do." Then she looked around. "Hmm. Where is your brother hiding? Is he all right?"

"He's fine. He went up ahead searching for something. I can track him down for you. Now, please, explain what you're on about and what this has to do with me and my brother."

"Let's go sit by the lake," she said. "I'll tell you everything I know."

* * *

At the lake, they both sat on the grass, in lotus position.

"Let's start with the reason why the train invited me here," Amelia said, handing Jam a muffin.

"Thanks," Jam said before taking a bite out of the muffin.

"Thirty three years ago, I had a fiancé named Alrick. We loved each other and felt inseparable. But one day, I received a phone call that made it seem like the world was collapsing around me. I was announced that Alrick died in a dirt biking accident. I couldn't face the reality that I would never see him again. I refused to go to his funeral, thinking that if I'll never see him get buried I could convince myself that he was still alive and that he would return, just like he always did. But the days went by, and he was not coming back."

Jam's eyes were filling up with tears as he listened attentively, forgetting about the half-eaten muffin in his hand.

Amelia continued. "One day, I decided I didn't want to live in a world without Alrick. I wanted to escape. And what better place to end it all than the college campus where Alrick and I graduated? But the train had other plans for me. It removed the roof of the college building and lured me in with the promise of futuristic technology – the kind that made me hope I could bring Alrick back."

Jam had wiped away his tears and resumed eating his muffin.

Amelia smacked the ground with her right fist. "My misplaced hope led me down a dark path. I usurped the good-willed Conductor One, I took over the train, and changed its devices into tools for my own sick goal of recreating Alrick. I had nothing left of him except my memories. I had a memory tape of my own, so I've used a scanner to create orbs coded with everything found in that tape. But it turned out that it kept creating everything wrong. The architecture, the gravity, the very laws of physics were wrong in the cars those orbs created for me. So I've forced a robot called the Steward to help me acquire orbs from other cars, which I've then used on my more recent cars. All that was left was to code in Alrick and his personality."

"I don't like where this is going," Jam said, having finished his muffin.

"I've captured and studied ghoms from the wasteland, and realized they are very moldable by injected code, fully becoming the entity whose essence was contained in orbs I'd equip in a device I've stolen from the train and repurposed. I've failed to complete my plan countless times, because the scanner kept mixing the turtle pattern of my handkerchief into the orbs, corrupting them. I didn't understand what was causing it at the time, so I kept shooting ghoms with multiple orbs, hoping that the right combination would put all the required pieces together and form Alrick exactly as I remembered him. The last ghom I've shot with four different orbs was the one you and your brother came from. But I have yet to find out how you ended up looking like my coworker."

Jam had a shocked look on his face as he morphed into his turtle form. "You've captured … There was a ghom … and Alrick and I came out of it?"

"I guess that technically makes you twins," Amelia said.

The softshell looked at his power armor's hands. "So, my brother and I are … ghoms."

Amelia shook her head. "It's not that simple to define what you are. You have ghom, human, and denizen code. Do you happen to have a number on your palm too?"

"Y-yes," Jam said, surprised she knew about that detail. "It's 337. But it doesn't glow. My brother has one just like mine."

"It used to be my number. Your sister Hazel has that same non-glowing number on her right palm."

"We have a sister?"

"You have many sisters, but Hazel is similar to you, capable of changing between turtle and human form. She's the little girl you saw in my photo."

Jam smiled. "She looks adorable! Can I meet her?"

"That will be difficult," Amelia said. "She left the train with Grace, the young woman from the photo. Simon donated parts of his number to Hazel so she could qualify for getting an exit. That boy had a tendency to come up with macabre solutions to problems, but cutting his own skin like that took the cake."

Jam shuddered at the thought. "I wouldn't want people to hurt themselves for me. I'm pretty sure my brother wouldn't want that either. Is there some other solution? We'd love to get away from this train. Almost everyone here hates us because of what this Simon guy did to them."

Amelia pondered for a moment. "I do not know of any other working solutions, given that you're not made of reflective material. All I do know from my boss is that it must be something good enough to convince the train there is a glowing number on your hand's skin. If you and your brother are willing to work with me, maybe we'll find a way to get you two off this train. Or at the very least I could help you find an accepting community on the train. Do we have a deal?" She offered a handshake.

Jam smiled at her before grabbing her hand with his armor's and gently shaking it. "Deal."


	3. The Zoo Car

Amelia and Jam were crossing the bridge on their way to another car. She glanced at him and noticed that he took human form again. If Hazel's transformation habits were anything to go by, she considered this meant Jam was feeling comfortable around her.

He stared at his right lower arm's display monitor, where the red arrow pointed in the direction he needed to go to find his brother. It also displayed the remaining battery of the armor. It was at 55%.

Amelia shot a quick look at the display, then smirked at Jam. "So, when are you going to fess up?"

She caught Jam off guard with that question. "Uh, what?" He morphed back into a softshell turtle. "I swear I'm not hiding anything!"

After poking the tip of his long nose with her finger, Amelia said, "Sure you aren't, Pinocchio."

"Hey!" he said, putting some distance between them while rubbing his nose.

She had a smug look on her face. "Do you take me for a fool? You have this power armour on. Those gingerbread denizens wouldn't stand a chance in a fight against you. And if you wanted to avoid the conflict entirely, you could have just used your jets to escape."

"Um, it's low on battery," he said, hiding his right hand behind his back and grinning sheepishly at her.

She crossed her arms. "Oh, really? Then why did your screen show you still have a bit over half power left?"

His eyes looked away from her. "I … have the right to remain silent."

Amelia opened the door to the next car while saying, "Well then, I'll just have to get the answer from your brother. I'm sure he wouldn't have left you behind like this if he knew you could easily get in trouble."

Jam continued to remain silent and followed her into the car.

The inside had nothing but reflective walls and looked like a short hall that led to a dead end.

Amelia looked at her reflection. "We're in the fart car, aren't we?" She sniffed the air. "There is no smell, but there is no door either. This isn't right."

A muffled burp came out of nowhere.

She scowled. "A burp car. Sometimes I want to have a serious talk with One and ask him why he thought things like the fart car and this place should exist."

The silence was filled with more muffled burps emitted at an interval of five seconds. It sounded as if the burps were questions.

Jam stared at the floor. He didn't have a reflection, excluding his armor, and due to the light mysteriously coming from all sides of the room, he didn't have a shadow either.

Amelia noticed this. "Can I ask you something?"

"If it's about my brother, I'm not answering," he said, crossing his arms.

"No, it's about you."

"I might answer it. Fire away."

She pointed at the floor near his feet. "If you have no reflection, then how did you know Simon looks like you?"

"While my brother and I don't have reflections, we still appear on camera. We've seen ourselves on wanted posters and in videos on monitors, especially when the news covered our heists."

"So Hazel isn't the only one who didn't have a reflection after being created," Amelia said. "She has inherited Simon's reflection after he died."

Jam frowned. "If I had a reflection, I could shave without having to ask my brother to check if I missed a spot. But I wouldn't want people to die just so I'd get one."

"People die every day anyway," Amelia said. "You will probably get one at some point whether you like it or not."

They both stared at the wall at the end of the hall. Still no door, and the burping continued.

Amelia touched the wall and said, "If the fart car requires sniffing the farts, then what does this car want us to do? We've heard plenty of burps already, even if they're muffled."

Jam looked around. "Hmm. Muffled. Hold on, I've got an idea!" He took in a deep breath and let out a burp.

Amelia winced. "Really, Jam?"

The room burped slightly louder.

He grinned. "Looks like it wants me to do better."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "This is childish."

Jam took in a deeper breath and burped even louder than the car's burping. It sounded almost like a motorcycle.

She struggled to hold back a laugh, though her lips formed a smile.

The car burped even louder.

Jam felt even more confident. "Oh yeah?" He took in such a deep breath that he felt his armor like a giant hand wrapped around his chest. It was time to unleash the beast. He burped so loud that the walls shook and the car admitted defeat by revealing the door.

Amelia burst into laughter. "That sounded like it came from something out of this world!"

Jam grinned and puffed up his chest while morphing back into human form. "I declare myself champion of the burps!"

At that moment, Amelia heard a sound she recognized immediately. She looked at her right palm. Her number had decreased to 45.

Jam looked at it too. "It's lower. I saw other passengers leave when theirs hit zero, so this must be good news for you."

"Yes, but even if I reach zero, I'm still going to stay here and try to find a way to take you and your brother with me."

"You're so nice," Jam said. "It seems almost … too good to be true."

Amelia opened the door. "I understand it is hard for you to trust people due to the way everyone's been treating you. All I can say is that if I wanted to hurt you two, I would have no trouble using my sound shield to make your molecules vibrate until you'd burst into flames."

Jam stared at her in shock while exiting the car with her.

"Look, as long as you don't murder anyone, I have no reason to use it on you," Amelia said. She bowed her head and frowned. "I've had to use it that way only once, and I am not proud of it. The ones I've killed were messed up versions of my coworkers. They went on a killing spree on trains of various universes, and they were about to add my coworkers to their list of victims. I couldn't let them continue like that."

"My brother and I avoid killing. We only fight if we get attacked, but our goal is always to escape. I know we've caused lots of property damage and ruined a few businesses, but we need parts for our armors, and we also need food to survive."

Amelia put her right hand on his left shoulder. "I'll make sure you two will never have to worry about food, water, and security, even if the train refuses to let you leave."

Jam really wanted to believe her, but deep inside he feared she was just another enemy who would try to rid the world of him and Alrick. After all, everyone else thought the world would be a better place without them in it.

* * *

The next car had lots of grass, bushes, flowers, trees, benches, swings, and trash cans.

"This appears to be a park car," Amelia said.

Jam went to smell the red flowers to his right. It turned out they were aware of him, so they closed up their tips into buds. He walked away, disappointed.

From above, a flock of red birds with white undersides observed him. One of them said, "There's the Apex trash that destroyed our nests!"

Another bird said, "Let's get him!"

The flock flew in formation and aimed to bomb him with droppings. Jam stepped out of the way, avoiding most of the hits except the three that landed on his right arm. He cleaned the mess off with his left hand, and was pecked on the head by two birds that flew past him.

Amelia tried to approach him, only to halt just next to another carpet bombing with bird droppings aimed at Jam.

He sought shelter under a tree, but then realized it had eyes and was sentient too. It dropped all of its leaves over him. When he made his way out of the foliage, the birds targeted him again.

"Stop attacking him!" Amelia shouted at the birds. "He's not who you think he is!"

They didn't listen, and continued to chase Jam away. One of them said, "Get out of here! You don't belong on the train!"

Another added, "To the wasteland with you!"

The grass under Jam's feet moved in such a way that it made him slip and fall on his back. His armor's chest was immediately covered in bird droppings. He sighed and got up, accidentally bumping into a fountain. "Oops! Sorry, I didn't see you there."

The fountain's multiple eyes near its top glared at him before it hit his face with a jet of water, blinding him for a few moments.

He tripped around and ended up heading into a bunch of trees, only to get slapped away by their branches and fall flat on his face.

"Jam, stay near me!" Amelia said, trying to reach him.

Jam got up and wanted to say something, but was swarmed out of the blue by locusts. He morphed into his turtle form while trying to shoo the insects off his messy hair. A bench smacked him hard in the back and pinned him to the ground, putting one of its clawed paws on his head.

Amelia lifted the bench and threw it away. Then she helped Jam get up. "Are you hurt?"

The sandbox nearby refused to allow him to say anything. It formed a wave of sand and sent it his way.

Amelia activated her sound shield and repelled the sand, keeping Jam safe.

"Thanks, Amelia," he said.

"You can call me 'mother' if you want," she said. "Although, given how I've left you to suffer for so long without even knowing you exist, I might not be worthy of that title."

Jam gave her an awkward stare. "Uh, no offense, but I'm not comfortable with calling someone I've just met 'mother'. You do know a lot about me and my brother, and you seem to be a nice person, but trusting you that much doesn't come easy. Alrick and I have been tricked before. Those people played nice until they thought they had us cornered." He looked away. "They paid for it with their house."

The birds tried to bombard him again, but Amelia put up the shield and deflected the attack.

"You're nice to me now, but what will you do when we reach my brother?"

She shrugged. "I'll explain the situation and try to get you two off the train or to a safer place on it."

As they passed by the slings, they swung Jam's way, trying to hit him. The sound shield stopped them from getting too close and caused them to bounce off it.

He looked at his right fist. "You better be telling the truth, because if you corner us we'll start a really nasty fight against you!"

She calmly said, "It is the truth. Please, just work with me."

They finally reached the door at the end of the car. Jam opened it this time, then they both exited. He looked at his right arm's display and tapped on it to zoom out. "My brother is about two cars away. He isn't moving around, so I guess he's asleep."

"Good," Amelia said. "Once we meet up with him, we can set up camp and rest for the night." She looked at the cloudy red sky, then at her wristwatch. "At least it should be night where I come from."

Jam yawned before saying, "I'm kind of tired myself."

Amelia opened the door to the next car. They entered a world where purple and blue colors dominated in its vegetation. Evening was settling there.

"This place looks nice," Jam said. "I've never seen plants and mushrooms that glow in the dark like this." He tripped on a rock. "Huh? The rocks glow as well."

"This is the jungle car," Amelia said. "Hazel lived here for a while with her adoptive mother Tuba, a gorilla denizen."

"If Hazel is outside the train, what happened to Tuba? Did she return here?"

"Simon happened. He murdered her out of his hatred for denizens."

Jam gasped. "Why did you people hang out with that murderer?"

Amelia stuck up her nose. "Well, I certainly didn't like hanging out with him, but Hazel forgave him, Grace forgave him, even One forgave him, so I had no choice but to accept he was going to be part of the team."

Jam looked at his armor's hands. "I wish he hadn't died." His fists clenched. "If he were still alive, I could hold him accountable for ruining my life before it even began!"

"He never meant to ruin your life," she said. "Just like I didn't mean to ruin his and Grace's."

"What do you mean?"

"When she was a kid, Grace saw me while I was looting orbs from a car. She thought I was the Conductor, and she was amazed by my robot suit and the number covering my right arm. In her teenage years, she and Simon started a cult around their distorted image of me. They recruited children and taught them to do horrible things." She wanted to continue the story, but the massive metal cages up ahead demanded her attention. "Good heavens, what went on in this car?!"

"That sure looks out of place," Jam said.

Amelia gestured toward him. "Come! Something shady is afoot here."

They rushed to see what was inside the cages. That was when they were stopped by a tall, slender, furry creature with a cream underbelly and orange backside.

"Are you behind this?" Amelia asked the denizen while pointing at the cages inside which there were various creatures.

"Hello, dear passenger! I am Jerry the weasel. Welcome to my zoo car! Here you can see all kinds of dangerous or cool looking creatures, such as the golden winged snakes, the killer squid, the crystal man, the tiny wizards, and even a new addition that will send chills down your spines."

The weasel denizen's grin full of sharp teeth was enough to give Jam the shivers.

"No, this is _not_ your zoo car!" Amelia said. "This is supposed to be the jungle car. What you are doing here is illegal."

The weasel gave her a bored stare. "Oh yeah? According to whose rules?"

"According to the Conductor's rules!" she said. "Caging denizens, no matter their level of intelligence, is considered a felony."

Jam heard squeaks from a cage hidden deep within the jungle. "There are ghoms here!"

Amelia raised her eyebrows. She poked the chest of the weasel with her index finger. "Jerry, are you insane? If those things get out of that cage–"

Jam used his jets to fly all the way to the back of the wannabe zoo. Amelia followed him there, in spite of Jerry protesting that she didn't pay the entrance fee.

The cage at the back contained five ghoms and not much space for them to roam or fly around. They emitted pitiful squeaks as they lay on their bellies.

"Look at them," Jam said. "Their feelers are drooping, they're crying, and they don't even care that we're here. What has this guy done to them?"

Amelia never thought she'd feel sorry for ghoms of all things, but with Jam's help she saw a side to the beasts she had never noticed during the many years she had experimented on them. They weren't screeching monsters from hell thrashing about like the ones she had dealt with. They suffered just like any other creatures that had no more fight left in them.

Jerry arrived, shouting, "Stay away from my ghoms! It took me a lot of work to trap them and tame them!"

"What do you mean 'tame them'?" Jam asked. "You've traumatized them!" He chittered at the ghoms.

They shuddered and chittered back really fast.

Jam pointed at Jerry. "They say you're a bad leader! You hurt them every day, even when they've given up on attacking you."

Jerry laughed. "They're just ghoms, stupid! If I let them out, they're gonna suck your energy until you turn into ashes."

Jam grabbed the bars of the cage and said, "Oh yeah? Let's see what happens if _I_ let them out."

Amelia shouted, "Jam, no!"

Too late. The softshell bent the bars outward, making an exit for the ghoms. He chittered something at them. They all looked away from him and hissed. He hissed back at them.

Jerry stared at the scene before him, clueless as to what as going on.

Seeing that the ghoms refused to do anything, Jam grabbed Jerry and carried him into the cage, in spite of the weasel's squirming.

Amelia asked, "What are you doing?"

"Don't worry; he'll be fine," Jam said. He lifted Jerry above himself and screeched at the ghoms.

The creatures got up and raised their feelers, screeching back at him. He chittered while leaving the cage, and they all followed him out of it.

Amelia watched as the ghoms passed by her with no hostility from their side.

With the ghoms freed, Jam threw the weasel into the cage and straightened the bars. "Now let's lead the ghoms back to the wasteland."

Amelia nodded while taking out her e-mailing machine. "I'll ask One to send a team to take these caged denizens back to their corresponding cars."

* * *

Outside, Jam watched as all but one ghom flew away. He chittered at the remaining one, who hissed at him.

Amelia pointed at the ghom. "What does this one want?"

"I'm not sure. It's daring me to touch it." He put his right hand on the ghom's head and tried to pet it.

The ghom reacted by sucking in a bit of Jam's life force through the armor before flying away hissing loudly.

"Darn it!" Jam said, holding his right hand with his left one.

"What was that all about?" Amelia asked.

"It claims leadership over the other four ghoms. That was a warning to stay off its territory."

She let out a laugh. "That ungrateful bastard."

Jam grinned. "Oh, it _is_ grateful. It let me off with a warning instead of challenging me to a fight."

"Ghoms are weird," she said. "But then again so am I."

He put his left hand on her right shoulder. "Hey, you may be weird, but it's a good kind of weird."

"Let's continue the search," Amelia said, looking amused.

* * *

The car they entered looked like a forest during autumn, with trees full of red leaves everywhere. There was a full moon in its night sky.

Jam looked at his tracker. "My brother moved to this car for some reason. But I don't see him anywhere."

"Call to him," Amelia said.

"I don't think he trusts you enough to show up, but I'll do it. Alrick! Hey, Alrick! Where are you?"

No response.

Jam tried again. "Alrick! Come out, bro! She's a nice lady once you get to know her!"

Still nothing.

He dug through the leaves underneath his feet and looked at what lay hidden below. Instead of soil, there was a giant tree extending down, making the leafy floor its canopy. Alrick was there too, hiding behind a branch. Jam waved at him.

"Do you see your brother there?" Amelia asked.

"Yeah, I see him. He's too scared to join us."

"Then go talk to him."

"Nah, he needs to get over his fear of you. Nothing I say will convince him to trust you."

Amelia prepared her sleeping bag. "Then we'll camp here and hope he doesn't decide to run away by morning."

Jam poked his head through the leaves. "Hey, bro! We'll be sleeping here until morning! Feel free to join us!"

Alrick glared at him.

After looking around to make sure there were no threats, Jam pressed and held the left triangular button of his power armor. The armor's back opened up, allowing him to exit as if he were hatching from a cocoon.

Amelia stared at his smooth, leathery shell. It had black, distorted rings with dark green centers. A few black dots and stripes decorated the shell's edges. Although the shell hid most of it, Jam seemed to be wearing the black academic dress from Amelia's memories.

As he lay on his belly, retracting his limbs and most of his neck into the shell, Jam said, "I hope this doesn't look too creepy. It's how I sleep."

Amelia waved her hand dismissively. "It's no problem. I've seen Hazel sleep like that before."

"Okay then. Good night, Amelia."

"Good night, Jam."

"Oh, and good night, bro!"

Alrick refused to say anything in return.


	4. The Former Apex Car

Jam had been asleep for half an hour until he was awakened by a bright light flashed into his eyes.

The one shining the flashlight was Alrick, having equipped it on the top of his power armor's left lower arm. He whispered, "Wake up, you mug!"

Jam extended his neck down into the hole between the leaves of the floor. "What is it, bro? Do you want me to help you climb up here?"

"No, you get your arse down here this instant!" Alrick said while pointing at the branch he sat on.

Jam silently made his way to his brother. "Are you still scared of her?"

"Put a sock in it!" Alrick said. He pointed an accusatory finger at his brother. "You trust the old woman so much you decided to kip next to her. Without your armour on too!"

Jam looked at himself. His soft shell's yellow plastron was the only thing standing between his chest and anything that could harm him. He knew that any sharp object could pierce through it as if it were made of cheese.

Alrick crossed his arms. "Get back in your armour and let's leg it before she wakes up!"

"Wait!" Jam said. "Don't you want to hear what she told me?"

"You can tell me while we head to the locomotive. Now move!"

"But there's still so much I want to learn from her! Bro, she created us! She knew the people who looked like us!"

Alrick froze. "Did you just say she … created us?"

Jam nodded.

"That's just porkies!" Alrick said, holding his fists to his sides. "I had a life before we woke up next to the dead ghom! I remember it like it was yesterday! I was an engineer!"

"She said she made us using the ghom," Jam said. "We're twins because we both hatched out of it. She also mentioned something called a memory tape."

Alrick squinted at him through the glasses. "Did she modify our memories using that memory tape thing?"

"The memory tape was used to give us the personality and aspect of the man she tried to recreate. And get this: his name was Alrick as well!"

The tortoise became shaky. "T-that doesn't prove anything. Plenty of people are named Alrick."

Jam asked, "What about the woman you saw in your dreams? Is her name Amelia too?"

"I think I've called her Amelia once in a dream. But … she looked younger, and I was the same age as I am now. How can she be so old while I've stayed the same?"

"What if you look like that Alrick guy did when he died 33 years ago? You share the same name, and you keep seeing a young woman named Amelia in your dreams, and you said you seemed to be in a relationship with her. It all makes sense now."

"So I am a guy brought back from the dead," Alrick said, "and she was my partner. But if I am him, then who are you?"

Jam looked at the number 337 on his right palm while stretching the webbing between his fingers. "I … I don't know."

"Didn't you say she knew the _people_ who looked like us?"

Jam nodded, feeling his heart rate increase.

Alrick looked up at the hole between the leaves. "Who was the other guy?"

The softshell had a blank stare while his mouth remained open.

"Answer me, Jam!"

Jam looked at him and said, "Her deceased coworker."

Alrick's right armored fist clenched and shook. "She was already trying to replace me."

"No, no, it wasn't like that!" Jam said, waving his hands in front of himself. "She didn't even enjoy working with the guy. He was a murderer. That explains why denizens keep attacking me when I reveal my human form."

"So, you were a murderer," Alrick said.

"No! Brother, I have no memories of that! Please don't hate me just because I look like him! I didn't choose to look like him! Amelia made me this way!"

Alrick grabbed a small branch with his armor's right hand and said, "That unfaithful hag!" He tore the branch off and crushed it.

Jam took a few steps back. "Brother, you're scaring me."

"And to think I wanted to rebuild the train for you and me to live in peace. I was helping the murderer who was my replacement all along!"

"I'm not him!" Jam said. "I've got many of the same memories that you have! And they're not even Alrick's! They're hers! It was _her_ memory tape!"

Alrick gave him a death glare, and the red glasses made it look even scarier. "I will give you two options. You come with me and help me take over the train, or you stick with the hag, be all lovey-dovey with her or whatever, and get left behind after I separate the locomotive from the cars. Make your choice."

Jam couldn't choose either of those options. He wanted to stay with Amelia to learn more about himself, but he also wanted to have his brother with him. "Amelia said she will try to get us both off the train, or at least find a place where you and I can be safe. Can't you just talk to her first?"

"I see you've made your choice," Alrick said. "Don't ever approach me again. It won't end well for either of you if you do." He jetted his way to the top of the canopy, then ran to the door and left the car.

Jam remained on the branch, staring at the hole in the canopy above him while tears poured off his turtle face.

* * *

Amelia looked around, not seeing Jam anywhere. There was a pile of leaves next to her, so she went to check if it was him hiding there. After she pushed the leaves away, she exposed Jam's leathery shell. "Jam?"

The shell turned black, and dog legs came from its sides, along with three tendrils and a dog tail. It was a ghom, and it turned its gaping mouth hole toward her, screeching infernally. The creature jumped on top of her and sucked in her life force, causing her intense pain.

* * *

Amelia woke up screaming out loud. Then she sat with her arms wrapped around her bent legs, trying to catch her breath.

There was no ghom near her, but there was Jam, all tucked inside his shell and quivering. His hair stuck out from the hole where his head should be, and at the hair's center there was the tip of that long nose of his sticking out.

"I'm sorry for startling you, Jam," Amelia said, sitting cross-legged next to him. "I … had a nightmare."

Jam continued to hide, still shaking. Her finger touched his nose, causing him to bring out his head. "Hey! Stop that!" he said.

She chuckled at him. "Sorry. I was just worried because you didn't say anything."

He came out of his shell and got on his feet. His eyes had a piercing stare.

"Jam, is something wrong? Is your brother still around?"

"Never mind where my brother is," Jam said. He pointed his claw at her. "I think it's time for _you_ to fess up."

"But I'm not hiding anything," Amelia said in an amused tone. "You're the one who tried to fool me, speckled shell!"

"I'm also the one who looks like your dead coworker. I just want to know why. Why did you try to bring him back from the dead too? What did he mean to you?"

She scowled. "I have nothing to do with your appearance! I told you, Simon and I were never on good terms with each other!"

"How can you say you had nothing to do with it when you're the one who created me?" Jam said, putting his left hand on his chest. "There's something you're not telling me. Maybe it's something you don't want Alrick to find out."

"I've told you all I know! I didn't intend for this to happen!"

"Maybe you and this Simon guy were closer than just coworkers." He formed a heart with his hands while smirking at her.

"No, we weren't! Ugh! For heaven's sake! He was almost five decades younger than me!"

"Or maybe you tried to revive him because you've wronged him in some way."

"Reviving him was never in my plans! I just wanted my Alrick back!"

Jam didn't look convinced.

Amelia added, "If anyone tried to revive him, it was the train. I bet it's laughing at me right now. This must be my punishment for … "

"Go on," Jam said.

Amelia looked away. "Probably not. I have no regrets tied to him." Her number announced that it had changed. She looked at her palm. It was 48.

Jam pointed at it. "You're lying!"

"Fine, maybe I do have a bit of regret," she said, facing him again. Her number went back to 45. "But it certainly wasn't enough to push me to revive the pipsquirt."

Jam took human form again, fully revealing his academic dress. "Then why do I look like him?"

She sighed. "You want answers? So do I. Get in your armour. I think I know where we might find those answers."

* * *

Amelia used her harpoon pack while Jam used his jets so they could jump from car to car. They went on like that until they reached the car with the Apex symbol graffiti on it, then landed in front of it.

"This used to be the mall car," Amelia said. "It was turned into the Apex car after the kids took over it. Now it's just a safe place where the former members who stayed behind gather to help other passengers and denizens." She knocked on the door.

A pink-haired teenage guy with ear guards opened up. He said, "Welcome back, Amelia!" Then he took one look at Jam and went pale, uttering unintelligible words while walking backwards into the car.

Jam rolled his eyes. "No, I am not Simon."

"He is my creation," Amelia said while pointing at Jam with her thumb. "We're here to find out why he looks like Simon."

The pink-haired teenager looked at his own right palm. His number jumped from 205 to 250. "First he asks me to cut the numbers out of his skin with scissors. Then I find him dead in his room, _several_ days after his death. Then I had to be the one to bury his body. And now there's another guy who looks just like him!" He stomped away, his voice breaking as he said, "I'm done. I am _so_ done. I'm going to sleep. Screw guard duty. I'm done."

"That poor kid," Amelia said. "Well, let's go upstairs."

They went up one of the unmoving escalators together. Once at the top, they turned to the right and entered a room above whose door there was a text that said "TOMB". Inside, they found not only a tombstone with Simon's name on it at the base of a palm tree growing out of a sand pit, but also Samantha the cat.

Amelia's eyes went wide. "Samantha?"

The cat, who up until that moment sat facing the tombstone slouched with her ears lowered, turned around with her eyes half-closed and said, "Bonjour, Amelia." She gasped and had eyes wider than Amelia's when she saw Jam. "Simon?!" Her hair puffed up, making her look bigger than usual. "Impossible! I saw them bury you! And before that you were dead for over three days! This must be a nightmare! I must wake up!"

"Enough!" Jam shouted. "I am not Simon! I am Jam! I am one of Amelia's creations, and neither of us knows why I look like this!" He gestured with his power armor's hands toward himself. "I'm sorry that I've startled you, ma'am. I just wanted to see his grave. Also … I need to see his tape."

"His tape is in his room," Samantha said, avoiding looking into Jam's eyes while her fur relaxed. "I never had the strength to view it, because I am still not over his death. A word of advice from this old feline: since you may have ties to Simon, viewing his tape might be dangerous. So it is always good to have someone with you to stop the tape player if things get out of control."

"Thank you," he said. "Amelia, I'm ready to find out the truth."

"Then let's go to his room," Amelia said.

* * *

Simon's room had a broken door that had been left that way ever since the kids broke in. His stuff was left exactly the same way he had left it, but now with more dust than ever before. His desk lamp still continued to function.

On his bed, there was an object that looked like a cube with chipped corners. It had a button on top, a slit on one side and another on the opposite one, and a lens on the side between those two sides. The tape was stuck in the device and, judging by the dust on it, hadn't been touched by anyone for a week.

"This little thing killed him?" Jam asked while inspecting the tape player.

"Don't underestimate it," Amelia said. "I almost died trapped in my tape before I've met the Conductor."

The softshell started the projector. "Let's see if we can get an explanation out of it."

A rectangular projection appeared in the air, displaying lots of static. The memory could barely show pieces of itself here and there. People with casseroles of food were gathered in a room. There was a blond toddler there, dressed entirely in black, standing stiff and emotionless.

Static engulfed everything, then the tape showed something that made Amelia gasp. The toddler stared at a coffin in which a bearded blond man lay. A young blond woman patted the kid on the shoulder and said, "Stay strong. Don't cry. You're a soldier, and soldiers are supposed to be brave."

The kid nodded, not taking his eyes off the dead man's face even for a second.

Amelia looked away.

Jam put his armor's left hand on her right shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, it's just … the funeral. It reminds me that I've missed Alrick's."

Samantha entered the room. "So, you're not affected by the tape."

Jam looked at her. "And that means ...?"

"It means you are not Simon," the cat said. "Which begs the question: who are you then?"

"I'm Jam. Whoever says different can kiss my speckled shell."

"Shall we get a better look at the tape's content?"

"How do we do that?"

"Just focus on it. You'll find yourself in it in no time."

"Okay," Jam said, fixing his stare on the floating projected screen.

* * *

Jam, Amelia, and Samantha were transported inside the tape, among the static.

The next memory was much clearer. It was a room with many adults as an audience, and one woman in her mid thirties at a podium. There was a bunch of kids lined up, with numbers on papers pinned on their chests. They were all sitting on chairs. The blond toddler, who was obviously Simon, was among those kids, with the number 55 pinned to his gray school vest's chest.

"Simon Laurent!" the woman from the podium said.

Simon went to the microphone meant for the pupils and awaited instructions. An elderly woman with glasses whispered to another elderly woman. "That's my pupil over there. He's the best at spelling in my class."

The woman at the podium said, "Spell the word 'definitely'."

Simon took in a deep breath. "Definitely. D-E-F-I-A-N-T-L-Y." He grinned with confidence at her.

The other kids started laughing at him.

"I'm sorry," the podium lady said. "That is not how you spell 'definitely'. What you've spelled there is 'defiantly', an adverb which is related to the noun 'defiance'. You have been eliminated."

Simon's eyes widened in disbelief. "But that's how people write it on the literature forums! They've always been right about how things should be written! Just ask my teacher!" He pointed at the woman with glasses.

The podium lady rolled her eyes at him. "Sometimes people can be wrong, Simon."

"They can't be wrong when so many people write it that way all over the internet!" Tears were welling up in the toddler's eyes. "Maybe you're the one who spells it wrong!"

The teacher covered her face in shame. The young blond woman – who was probably Simon's mother – gave him a mean stare from the audience.

Simon noticed them both, and his face turned pink, but he refused to accept the loss. He still waited there.

"Simon Laurent, please free the microphone so the next contestant can step up," the podium lady said.

Simon stomped the floor. "No! I'm not leaving until you admit you're wrong!"

The podium lady gave him a bored look. "Step away from the microphone or I'll have to ask your teacher or your mother to escort you outside."

After looking at his mother, Simon saw how angry she looked. Nobody was on his side at that moment. Not wanting to be seen crying, he ran to the door and left the room.

Outside, he rushed down a hallway while sniffling, then halted when he saw a green light that created a tunnel on the walls on the hallway's sides.

A heavily armored train painted in a military camouflage pattern rushed from one tunnel to the other, stopping as soon as Simon approached it. One of its doors opened, showing a golden light.

Simon looked behind himself for a second, but then decided to board the train and run away from the consequences of his public outburst.

"He always was a sore loser," Amelia said.

"One more reason why I hate being compared to this guy," Jam added, scowling.

Simon woke up in the middle of a city unknown to him. He was so scared that instead of exploring, he started crying out loud.

The one to hear his cries was none other than a younger Samantha. "Aw! Hush, kitten. I am here to help you."

Simon stopped crying. He put his right hand on the cat's head and petted her while his number's green light illuminated her fur. "You're a talking cat! Are you real?"

A bit annoyed by the petting, Samantha pushed his hand away. "Of course I'm real. Everything here is just as real as you are. Follow me! I'll show you how to survive in this hazardous world."

The tape's static took over and changed the scene. Samantha and Simon were talking to a creature made of water, inside which there was a golden device that had a handle, a dial, and a green radar screen.

Samantha held a golf club in her paws. "This product is just the right thing for your problem, Mister Randall. It is the perfect thing to make omelets with. Show him, Simon!"

Simon took four small eggs out of his pocket and put them in a frying pan. Then he grabbed the golf club and swung it at the eggs until they turned to an omelet with eggshells in it. "Good enough for you?"

Randall grinned. "Yes! I need this in my life! We have a deal!" He passed the radar device to the cat and took the golf club with him on his travel.

Simon looked at his palm as his number made a sound. "It went up!" He showed his palm to Samantha. The number 55 glowed on it. "What does this mean?"

"Sometimes, numbers change depending on what you do."

"So, did I do a good job today?"

Samantha smirked at him. "Yes. You've done well, my apprentice. You have earned this for your hard work." She gave him the radar device.

"What does it do?"

"I don't know. We'll just have to figure that out once we get some batteries for it."

Amelia glared at present day Samantha. "I've expected nothing better from a con artist."

"I did what I had to do to survive!" present day Samantha said, showing her fangs. "I've helped him survive too, did I not?"

"You know what he became, and you know why. So don't wash your paws of this."

Present day Samantha lowered her ears and shrank away.

The tape skipped to another one of Simon and Samantha's adventures. This time they were in …

"The tape car!" Amelia said.

While the younger Samantha watched the passengers' memories and picked which tapes she wanted to add to her collection, Simon wandered through the large room and carried a white bag with him. He saw the tape projector hooked to the tape of a cassette with Amelia's name on it. Next to those there was another device that looked like one of the train's cannons. Out of it, green scan lines were emitted and sent onto the projection of the tape. The back of the device expelled green glowing orbs that lost their glow once they dropped into a square container.

The image that was being scanned was of Amelia and Alrick as kids in school, with a jar of jam on their desk. Simon passed through the projection to see what would happen. Nothing happened. Next the projection showed Amelia and Alrick's college graduation day. Just when Amelia was wiping Alrick's face with her turtle-themed handkerchief, Simon stepped into the image again and said, "Hey, Samantha! Look! I'm a nervous British guy!" At that moment he found himself inside Amelia's tape. "W-what's going on?"

Present day Amelia had a shocked look on her face. "That explains everything! The intruder was Simon!"

"Intruder?" Jam asked.

Simon was brought out of the tape just as he watched some people try to get younger Amelia to go to Alrick's funeral.

"Stop fooling around!" younger Samantha said. She grabbed the tape player and Amelia's tape and hid them in her purple shirt.

A loud screech grabbed their attention. It came out of a ghom that rushed toward Simon.

Younger Samantha recognized the danger and puffed up her hair. "Simon! Run! These things like to eat passengers!"

They ran away, chased down by the ghom while present day Amelia, Samantha, and Jam watched.

"I've turned a porter into a ghom and sent it after them," present Amelia said. "I was angry at them for entering the tape car while my experiment was in progress. But now I understand what happened. He got scanned, and the scanner mixed his data into the orbs. Hazel's school vest data was taken from the one he wore. His American accent was also inherited by her and Jam. And Jam is … almost entirely Simon, but with my memories."

Jam stared at her with an awkward look on his face. "So that makes me not just your son, but also ... his?!" He morphed into his turtle aspect again.

Amelia held her head with her hands. "This is so disturbing! I … I'm sorry. I never expected anyone to mess with the scanner. Normally there would be no awake passengers in that car. Well, there was that other intruder the Steward scared away prior to those events ... God, I've messed up worse than I thought!"

"I'm the son of a murderer," Jam said with the thousand yards stare in his eyes.

Amelia hugged him and said, "Don't let it define who you are. His choices are not yours."

Jam looked at her with squinted eyes. "Then why does everyone judge me by his crimes?"

"Because they don't understand the situation. Trust me, similar cases of mistaken identity happen even in the place where I come from, but we have laws there that help prevent violence. And if I can't get you there, I can at least give you a home in the gravity turtle college car."

"The one where the Emperor's guards tried to kill me and my brother? I don't think there's even a ghost of a chance for us to live there."

"I guess you've met them pretty early on, when Simon wasn't part of my team. They've stopped hunting him down after I've explained to them that he was trying to change his ways."

"I'll have to think about your offer."

As soon as Amelia released Jam from the hug, the tape moved on to the next memory. It showed how Simon was separated from Samantha, and how kid Grace saved him from the ghom then taught him that her high number meant she was really good at the train. It showed all the damage and denizen wheelings they did throughout the years as the Apex grew with them.

"He and Grace were nasty people," Jam said.

The tape showed how Simon, as a young adult, started warming up to Tuba in the color clock car. Then it switched to a distant view of the scene where Simon made Tuba fall to the wheels.

"Simon kept this memory at a distance," Samantha said. "He regretted murdering Tuba the most."

"How could he do that to someone who had just helped him out a few minutes before that?" Jam asked. "Why did he tell Hazel that he got rid of her adoptive mother just like that? Why is he smiling about it?"

Samantha closed her eyes and lowered her ears. "He believed he did the right thing. Making it seem like killing denizens wasn't a big deal was always the Apex's way of making children distance themselves from denizens."

The next scene showed how Simon got told by Amelia about the possibility that he might be wrong about her way during her time as the False Conductor. She called him a child, causing him to attack her.

"You weren't kidding when you said you weren't on good terms with him," Jam said.

"If Hazel hadn't screamed at him and turned into a turtle, I would have obliterated Simon then and there."

Jam looked at Hazel, who was crying. He tried to hug her, but his arms went through her while static came out of her body, buzzing. That made him back away.

"You can't directly interact with memories," Samantha said.

The tape fast-forwarded to when Simon extracted and watched Grace's memory tape. A purple portal opened on a wall behind him.

"Is that a deer?" Jam asked.

"That is Alan Dracula," Amelia said. "One sometimes employs him. The gun Alan Dracula was holding with those arms on his back is one of the train's devices that I have repurposed so I could recreate Alrick. I've once scanned a ghom and used its code to turn troublesome denizens into more ghoms. One had the idea of using the ghom orb on Simon to stop him from taking full control over the Apex."

Jam saw Simon get turned into a ghom by the weapon's shot.

Amelia continued telling the story while the tape showed what she was talking about. "Grace asked me to lead her to the locomotive to plead with One to turn Simon back into a human. I've begrudgingly accepted, and through our journey, that annoying brat started to see the damage he had caused. Hazel and One convinced him to change his ways, and so our team of four was founded."

The tape showed Simon and Hazel in a car full of giant, sliced fruit. They were tasked with changing back Amelia's victims from ghoms back into fruit fly denizens. Hazel changed four ghoms into flies while Simon changed three.

"I won!" Simon said. "I've changed back more of them than you did!"

"No, you didn't!" Hazel said. "Since when is three greater than four?"

"I shot four! You thought you landed a hit on the fourth one, but you didn't see me shoot it."

Hazel scowled at him. "Simon, we both know you only shot three."

"Nuh-uh! I shot four!" he said, puffing up his chest. His number changed, expanding from his chest to halfway up his neck.

"Why are you so scared to admit defeat? You're only lying to yourself." She pouted. "You're slipping back into your old ways, Simon."

He glared at her. "I ..." His tone was aggressive at first, but then became calmer while his expression softened. "I don't like losing. It means I'm weak. It makes me look like a joke to people."

Hazel said, "You shouldn't be afraid to admit defeat. Denying you've lost will just make people laugh at you even more."

"But admitting defeat also makes people hate me," Simon said, taking a giant watermelon slice for a seat.

"No, it doesn't!" Hazel said. "Come on! Admit it!"

He raised his arms and shouted, "All right already! You won! Happy now?" His number decreased until it was below his neck.

Hazel smiled. "See? It's not the end of the world. You can change just like Grace did."

"I'm scared," he said.

She took a seat next to him. "Of what?"

"Of change. Nothing will ever be the same again."

Hazel frowned. "Do you really want to go back to wheeling denizens?"

He put his hands before himself. "No! That's not what I meant! I meant … Grace and I can never go back to being, well, Grace and Simon. I can never see her the same way after realizing how she made me live a lie for eight years. And she can never trust me again, because I went against her orders and even extracted her memory tape while she was sleeping in that car with those living block things."

"But Grace still sees you as a friend."

He hid his face behind his palms. "Being demoted from 'best friend' to just 'a friend' still hurts. And I feel like soon Grace and I will be just acquaintances."

They both sat there in silence, and the tape changed the scene. This time, it showed Simon going to his room in the mall car, dragging his feet while having numbers nearly reaching his chin.

Grace followed him and said, "Hey, Simon! How did you do today?"

"Leave me alone!" he said, slamming the door shut before she could enter.

She stood behind the closed door. "Bad day, huh?"

He sat with his back stuck to the door. "Just go away. It's clear that I'm doomed to die on this train." His number expanded halfway up his face, going over his nose. He was fighting back the tears.

"If you want to talk about it, you know where to find me," Grace said.

Simon got up and slowly opened the door, just in time to catch her still in his sight. "I'm sorry about that." His number decreased, stopping just below his chin. "I'm just very disappointed in myself. I failed to save a null … uh, _denizen_ from a wild ghom." He broke down crying.

Grace put her right hand over his left shoulder. "If it helps you get it off your chest, I'm here to listen."

He nodded at her. When she gestured for him to follow her, he complied.

The tape then showed Hazel and Simon trying to pass through the hedgehogs' car. Jam was familiar with those denizens.

When a bunch of pink hedgehogs blocked their way, Simon tried to be diplomatic. "Look, I know the Apex has given you trouble, and I am partially responsible for that. I promise I will help fix your houses."

One of the hedgehogs asked, "Why would we trust you? We've seen how you've thrown others to the wheels!"

"We have changed," Simon said. "We no longer wheel nulls–I mean _denizens! Denizens!_ " He gave a nervous laugh after realizing he had just angered the hedgehogs again.

He and Hazel exited the car immediately as hedgehog quills flew at them. They slammed the door shut and tried to catch their breaths. A few quills were stuck in their backs.

"Nice job, Simon," Hazel said in a mocking tone.

He shrugged. "I didn't mean to insult them; it's just that old habits die hard." Looking at her pouting little face, he added, "I'll think twice before opening my mouth next time. I tend to anger others because I don't word things right. I'm often scared that I'll lose everyone that way."

"As long as you don't intend to hurt others, you'll always have me and Grace," Hazel said.

He smiled at her. "Yeah."

The tape then skipped to the moment where Grace and Hazel left through the exit while Simon tried to force himself to smile and hold back his tears. He looked like an empty shell of himself in that moment. All of his number's digits were E letters reaching with one row above his neck. Bandages hid part of his right lower arm and his palm. His left leg also had a bandage.

Another skip and the tape showed Simon sitting next to One-One in the jungle car. Simon's right arm had a strange patch of skin where a digit should have been. His right palm also had similar patches, missing the brackets of the number. All of the glowing digits on him were still E letters, the number's length remaining unchanged.

"Is it still glitched?" Simon asked, showing his right palm to the robot.

One-One, in Sad-One's voice, said, "I told you this would happen. You can never get an exit now."

"Can't you just give me a new number?"

"No can do," One-One said as Glad-One. "The train knows you've been assigned a number. If you lose any of its components, that number will be giving errors, making the system unable to track your progress."

"Aw, man! So if someone loses an arm here while they have a number, they are doomed to an eternity on the train?!"

"Pretty much," One-One said as Sad-One. "You could visit the universe intersection car and break into another universe where the train works by different rules. Then you could go to that world's version of your home. Maybe even meet the alternate versions of Miss Grace and Miss Hazel."

"But they wouldn't be _my_ Grace and Hazel!" he said with arms stretched before himself.

"Then tell them the truth and maybe Miss Grace could come visit you," One-One said. "Jesse Cosay managed to board the train for the second time, so Miss Grace could do the same."

Simon put his hands on his head. "I can't let her do that! The denizens will try to kill her again! And Hazel will be left alone if Grace boards the train!"

"Then accept your situation," the robot said.

"It's very painful to accept it!" Simon said. "Maybe it's time for me to finally face my tape. That's the only thing that might be able to cure me of missing my friends."

"Be careful when viewing that tape. You should ask someone to keep an eye on you in case things go bad." Switching to Glad-One's voice, One-One added, "I'm sure Amelia will be glad to help if you ask her."

Present day Amelia sighed and said, "One, you had too much faith in me."

Jam glanced at her.

The tape cut to where Simon went to Amelia, who sat in lotus position atop a train car and stared into the distance.

"Amelia?"

"What do you want now, Simon?" the past Amelia asked.

"Please help me. I need someone to keep an eye on me while I go into my tape to resolve some issues that keep eating away at me."

Past Amelia crossed her arms and said, "Hmpf. I'm not your babysitter. Man up and deal with your problems alone!"

Simon frowned. All he could do was let out a faint "Okay." Then he turned around and left.

Samantha hissed at present day Amelia and puffed up her fur. "You made him stop asking for help! It's your fault he's dead!"

Amelia pointed at her. "I was not responsible for his problems!"

The cat tried to scratch Amelia, who pulled her hand away just in time to avoid the claws. "Had he asked me, I would have been there for him! But he never even considered it because you made him feel weak for it!" She hissed at Amelia again.

"Calm down, you two!" Jam said, putting himself between them. "Amelia, while you had no obligation to help him, you also played a part in his demise. Maybe you too should choose your words more carefully."

Amelia bowed her head. "I suppose I could have been politer when I refused his request. It's too late to apologise to him, but I will consider the consequences of how I word things from now on."

Her number went down from 45 to 35.

"I didn't tell Hazel that day," Amelia said, "but my number was 39 and went up to 49 right after Simon left."

Samantha sat in silence, with her ears lowered.

The tape showed how Simon locked himself in his room and sat on his bed. He extracted his own tape from his head and inserted it into the projector. Suddenly, he was inside his tape, and so were the watchers. His memories played out normally, starting with the funeral and going all the way to when Grace and Hazel were about to leave. Then everything froze.

"What is happening?" Jam asked.

Simon looked around, likely wondering the same thing. Out of him, another version of himself appeared in addition to the replica that was already there. At first the new replica was made of static, but then it became fully colored. It was him but with his hair freed from his ponytail, and wearing a red army jacket instead of his white hoodie. The guy had numbers all the way to his forehead.

"Why are you here?" Simon asked, glaring at him.

The Simon covered in numbers said, "I am here to show you how awesome you could have become in your last moments."

"Why would I ever want to become you? You got eaten by a ghom while I got this far because I did the right thing!"

With a smirk, the number-covered Simon asked, "Oh yeah? Then tell me, if you did the right thing, how come you've lost _everything_?"

The bragging Simon faded away while the tape unpaused itself and repeated the memory of Grace and Hazel leaving through the exit over and over.

Simon sat next to a wall and kept watching them as tears ran down his face. "I don't know."

The tape skipped to show how Simon got thinner and thinner until the surroundings turned into static. He too became covered in static and dropped on his left side, becoming one with the floor. Then all the static was washed away by a black void that poured from the top.

* * *

Jam stared at the tape player, which had stopped playing. He didn't know what to feel anymore.

"So that was why he was so sad about Grace and Hazel leaving," Amelia said.

Samantha curled up on top of the bed's pillow, lowering her ears and closing her eyes.


	5. The Tournament Car

Samantha remained curled up on the pillow as if she were a rounded loaf of bread. Her eyes were still closed, and she emitted a soft sound that both Jam and Amelia recognized.

"She's … purring," Jam said. "But I thought cats purr when they're happy."

"They also purr when they're in pain," Amelia told him.

From underneath the pillow, twelve orb-shaped robots crawled up, heading toward the cat's head. The moment one of them touched Samantha's face, she jumped off the pillow and stared at them while the fur on her back was slightly raised.

"The tape extractors!" Amelia said.

Samantha sighed. "I never should have allowed him to gather these. He thought they were cute."

Jam poked at one with his armored finger. "They seem cute to me too."

"Well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Samantha said.

Jam stopped smiling, becoming serious. "Amelia, now that I know what is going on, it's time I gave you some answers regarding me and my brother."

"I'm all ears," Amelia said, taking a seat on the bed and gathering the extractors in one spot near her.

Samantha distanced herself from Amelia while giving her a mean stare, tail wiggling slowly.

The softshell began to narrate. "My brother and I woke up in that room you've mentioned. It felt like home to us, but something was off about it. The husk of the dead creature on the couch didn't help, but we somehow came to the conclusion that it died while defending us from something. We also were very used to each other's presence and seemed to share memories, so we immediately considered each other brothers. We've used that house as shelter, played video games, ate blackcurrant jam – which was the only food we could find in that car – and went outside to explore from time to time. Ghoms came through the ceiling openings of the car, and caused us to hide. Two weeks later, we've discovered the opening that led us outside. Boy were we surprised to find ourselves on a train! A train we both suddenly remembered boarding."

"Of course," Amelia said. "That was the last recorded memory I had in that tape."

Jam nodded at her. "We crossed the bridge and entered the next car. There, we found a similar place to the one from our car, except the houses there looked more complete. The gravity was broken in some areas too. To our surprise, we found turtle people there. But they weren't very welcoming. We were both in human form, and some of them pointed at me and said, 'Haven't you caused enough trouble for today, Apex scum?' Then my brother and I were attacked by tall, really buff tortoise guards who carried sporks. Freaking sporks, can you imagine?"

Amelia chuckled. "I've seen stranger things in those cars."

"They chased us through the entire city," Jam said. "We thought they did something to us, because we had both turned into turtles as we ran for our lives. Good thing we found the exit, because my brother's shell was slowing him down. The next car's world looked even more broken. Its incomplete houses were either upside-down, or were made of jam, or had turtle shells for rooftops. The gravity was so broken we ended up swimming there instead of walking. It looked like a war zone, because there were bullet holes in houses and in the floating turtle shells. One shell had a deformed skeleton sticking out of it. That was a scary place, but we had to hide there while also searching for the exit."

The mention of that place caused Amelia to have a somber look on her face. "That car was … my worst creation. Things went horribly wrong with it. So wrong that One sent the Steward to have all of my experiments in there be put down."

Jam's eyes widened. "One executes denizens?!"

"Not normally," Amelia said. "This was a special case. None of them were able to live a good life. They were all extremely deformed, suffering, violently and mindlessly thrashing around, sometimes biting or devouring each other or even themselves … I was disgusted with myself for what hell I've created for those poor beings. What One did was drastic, but at least they are at peace now."

"That's so messed up!" Jam said. "I'm glad we weren't there to witness that massacre in person. We were shocked enough just passing through that car. Ahem. As soon as we've found the exit, the angry mob caught up to us. We were on the bridge, and the soldiers were ready to battle it out with us. Just then, we saw a pack of four ghoms fly near the train. My brother instinctively screeched at them – a call for help. The ghoms came to him, but they seemed undecided on whom to attack. Alrick pushed one of them into the crowd, and it was then that we've heard the turtle people call the creatures ghoms. We left them there to fight it out as we snuck into the next car. It had turtles that acted and looked like … well, regular turtles. They didn't speak and didn't do anything but roam the area and eat plants."

"Ah yes, the tortoise car. It was much more successful than the terrapin car, since I didn't add fish for those."

"Oh. So that's why the next car had so many empty shells and softshell turtle skeletons. Poor creatures. Anyway, Alrick and I went through probably a dozen cars with the same college campus theme with exposed green orbs before finally finding a car that looked different. It was a city full of cats. A group of them, led by a cat named Stanley, chased us away because he saw my human form and mistook me for your coworker. He said the Apex killed his daughter."

"Yes," Amelia said. "I've met those cats before. They saw Grace watch her tape and found out that she and Simon ordered the wheeling of several denizens, among whom was Stanley's daughter."

"Alrick and I were met with hostility in almost every car we've passed through, except for the black market car and the junkyard car. We've obtained materials from the junkyard car, made some trades with the slugs from the black market, and we've built our power armors with the parts we've obtained. We've spent many months learning about how the train works, and we went around stealing things so we could improve the armors. This helped us defend ourselves against the many angry mobs we've met as we've traveled the train in search for a home. But one day my brother said he had had enough. He suggested we should take over the train, separate the locomotive from the rest of the cars, and build a world where we can live in peace. After I've told him what you've told me, he believes he was your dead partner and hates my guts because he thinks you've replaced him with me. He's now hellbent on pulling off his plan." Jam looked into Amelia's eyes with worry. "I don't want him to get hurt."

"Then we must find him as soon as possible," Amelia said, getting up from the bed. "One doesn't normally ask the Steward to harm anyone. He was very forgiving with me, even though I mocked him as I trashed his place with my mech and tore him out of the control board. God, I was acting like a brat back then … One might not be as forgiving now though. His failure to protect the train still torments him, and I'm afraid he would go as far as to hurt your brother if it means avoiding another coup. Do you know where your brother is right now?"

Jam looked at his right arm's screen. "I can track Alrick. He's stationary, approximately forty cars away from here."

"Good," Amelia said. "Then lead the way."

Samantha jumped off the bed. "I will be joining you on your quest."

Amelia raised an eyebrow at her. "Why?"

"You're the reason I've lost Simon," Samantha said, squinting at her. "I won't let you doom his son too."

"Fine," Amelia said. "Just don't expect me to save your tail if you get in trouble. And speaking of trouble ..." She gathered the tape extractors and the player, then shoved them into her backpack. "I can't let the kids mess with these."

Samantha muttered, "I hope you trap yourself in your own tape and rot there."

Amelia heard that, but only glared at her for a moment before gesturing to Jam to lead the way. He nodded and headed out, with Amelia and Samantha trailing behind him.

* * *

While Amelia used the harpoon pack to hop from car to car, Jam used his jets and carried Samantha in his backpack. They continued like that for thirty nine cars and stopped in the middle of the bridge leading to the fortieth's door.

"My tracker indicates that he's in the car up ahead," Jam said, looking at his screen.

A ghom landed on the bridge behind the group and slowly approached them while growling.

Amelia assumed battle stance.

"Don't start a fight with it," Jam said. "It's not hungry. It's just protecting its territory."

"Can't I just kick it off the train so it can go back to its territory?" Amelia asked.

"No. Just ignore it and keep walking slowly until we get to the door."

They turned their backs to the beast and went on their way. The ghom approached them and used its feelers to touch their legs.

"Just keep walking," Jam said. "It'll soon make a fuss about being ignored. Just don't give it any attention."

True to Jam's words, the ghom screeched at the travelers and stomped the bridge. No one cared.

Jam opened the door and gestured to Amelia to go first. Before she could enter, he realized things were about to get nasty. "Oh no!"

The car was a city full of colorful car denizens, all traveling at high speeds on the streets. Their movement caused the ghom to rush right in, screeching at the top of its lungs.

"No, no, don't!" Jam said as he chased after the frenzied ghom. He used his jets to land closer to the creature, then wrapped his armor's arms around it.

The ghom started sucking his energy from his left arm.

Jam quickly plugged the ghom's mouth with his left palm. Then he took the creature to the exit. "Out you go!" He threw the ghom into the air, allowing it to fly away. In a flash he was back inside and slammed the door in case the ghom decided to strike again. "That was close."

"Is your brother still in this car?" Amelia asked.

Jam looked at his tracker. "He went to the next one. He's not running, so I doubt he's on top of it. But he is moving around."

"Then let's get there before we lose him again."

"The tracker can find Alrick on a radius of about two hundred cars, so as long as we're close to him, I can see him. But we must keep in mind that he can also see me, because he too has a tracker."

They made their way through the car city, walking on the sidewalk and making sure to cross only during green lights. Jam maintained his turtle form and hoped that nobody around there heard about the trouble he and his brother had caused. Fortunately for his gang, the car denizens minded their own business and didn't even look at him with their headlamp eyes.

After exiting and looking around in case ghoms roamed the area, the gang crossed the bridge and went into the next car. There they were welcomed by a city during night time, with colored neon signs everywhere advertising various products. At the center of the city there was an arena with two holograms of giant creatures fighting each other. One was a muscular, bipedal, green lizard with silver spines on its back. The other was a brown gorilla, just as muscular, and almost as tall. They punched and kicked at each other before being replaced by a text that said, "VR Battle Tournament, starting in 1hr 28 m. Sign up! The champion will win ..." Then an image of a bulky silver weapon appeared, accompanied by the text "the arm-mounted net launcher!"

"A weapon!" Jam said. "I think I know why my brother decided to stay here."

Amelia looked around. "Where is he?"

Jam pointed at a line of denizens of various species that stood in front of a booth. "Over there."

Alrick, still in his tortoise form, waited in line for his turn to sign up for the VR Battle Tournament.

"We can't let him acquire that weapon," Amelia said. "We must sign up!"

"I don't want to go against him at this," Jam said. "He always beats me at video games."

Amelia smiled, "My Alrick used to beat me at fighting games almost every time. But that didn't stop me from trying to win. And this won't stop me either, no matter which version of Alrick I'm about to face. I'm signing up!"

Jam said, "Okay. I will go try to bargain for some food with the locals." He looked at the cat in his backpack. "Samantha, can I get you anything?"

"No, but that's very kind of you," Samantha said. "I ate this morning. I see you keep a jar of jam in your backpack."

"You can have some if you want."

"No, thank you for the offer. I was just making an observation."

"Well, let's go find someone willing to trade for metal nuts or – worst case – the jar of jam."

As Jam and Samantha left, Amelia took her place in the queue. Alrick had noticed Amelia and peeked at her from the front of the line. She smirked at him.

* * *

Jam managed to bargain for some crackers and even got to keep his jar of jam. He got busy at a round table at a terrace, making jam sandwiches out of them. Twenty pieces was the result.

Amelia arrived there and took a seat opposite to the cat's. "I've signed up. The rules aren't really in my favour. They said projectiles and close combat weapons are allowed, but not force fields such as my sound shield. All attacks must make contact."

"I could lend you my armor," Jam said. "It has hatches where you can load almost anything liquid or solid as projectiles."

"No. I will face Alrick with what I have: my muscles and my frying pan."

Jam had a puzzled look on his face. "You … carry a frying pan in your backpack?"

" _On_ my backpack to be exact," Amelia said while showing him the object in question dangling from her backpack's right side.

"Well, this is going to be interesting to watch," Jam said.

Samantha joined the conversation. "Oh, Amelia, I will enjoy seeing you become a punching bag for your creation."

Amelia glared at her.

Trying to deescalate the tension, Jam pushed the plate of cracker jam sandwiches toward Amelia. "Want some?"

Amelia remembered she hadn't eaten anything that morning. "Just five, thank you." She set the sandwiches aside.

"So, when is your first match?" Jam asked.

"In about half an hour," Amelia said before taking a bite out of the cracker sandwich. "Hmm. They actually go well with blackcurrant jam."

"Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised too."

She took out her e-mail device from her backpack and checked to see if there was a reply from Hazel. A smile appeared on her face when she noticed there was a message from her.

* * *

**Sender: Hazel Hughes  
Subject: Yay! Two more siblings!**

**What do they look like? Did you find out their names? Why can they control ghoms? Could I do that too? Please give updates soon!**

**Love, Hazel & Grace.**

* * *

Amelia's smile turned into a straight line. "Explaining this to her is going to be difficult. I'm not sure how she'll take the news."

Jam looked at her. "You mean you haven't explained to her how you've made her?"

"I have, but not in great detail. I only told her I've created her using a scanner and my memory tape, but I didn't tell her she used to be a ghom. And now I know things got even more complicated with Simon's interference and possibly that other child having something to do with why Hazel's complexion is darker. I think I know who might be the origin of that, but I'm not sure. I'll have to ask."

She typed out the e-mail.

* * *

**To: Hazel Hughes  
Subject: Regarding your brothers**

**I have managed to befriend one of them. His name is Jam, and he can shapeshift between human and turtle. He told me that his twin, who calls himself Alrick, can shapeshift like that as well.**

**This may sound crazy, but Jam looks almost exactly like Simon when in human form. The reason for this is because when Simon was younger he was scanned along with my tape. Young Simon wore a school vest just like the one you had when I've met you. This means Simon might be, in a weird way, your father. He for sure is Jam's.**

**Grace, answer me this, please. On that day when you've met me in the pumpkin car, did you also happen to have visited a car where there were many robots and tapes? If the answer to that is 'Yes', then did you interact with the machine that projected green rays out of a cannon onto a tape's projection?**

**Amelia Hughes.**

* * *

Behind her, the slightly faded images of the first two fighters appeared. One was an anthropomorphic fish lady, the other was a rat. They jumped at each other and threw kicks, punches, and tail slaps as the audience cheered around the arena.

Jam, Amelia, and Samantha watched them for a few moments. The fight seemed brutal, but Amelia was glad it was all in virtual reality and no one was really getting hurt there.

Alrick was in the crowd too, although barely visible. Jam stared at him, then said, "Amelia, you said you've been trying to recreate your dead fiancé, right?"

Amelia was taken off guard by the question, but she cleared her throat and answered. "Yes."

"Assuming our memories are exact copies of those from your memory tape and that my brother looks like your Alrick did 33 years ago, if you had met my brother exactly when he and I hatched out of the ghom and you saw him as a human, would you have made him your romantic partner?"

Amelia's eyes went wide. "Well, I ..."

Jam pressed her for an answer. "Would you have gone through with that in spite of him being at least 33 years younger than you, as well as him kind of being … you know, your son?"

Amelia hid her face behind her palms. "What was I thinking back then?! I'm glad that Tulip girl stopped me from continuing with my crazy plan." She revealed her face again, and it was red with shame.

Samantha grimaced in disgust at her as an unnerving silence settled over the trio. Trying to get her mind off her past, Amelia resumed eating her cracker sandwiches while the redness in her cheeks slowly faded away.

* * *

Two matches later, the hologram from the arena displayed the red text "Amelia Hughes vs Vespi".

"You're next," Jam said. "Good luck … mom."

Amelia looked at him for a second, then said, "Thank you." She left the table and headed for the arena.

"This will be fun," Samantha said, watching the arena while resting her chin on the backs of her hands.

* * *

A silver android guided Amelia to the tall but narrow VR room, where horizontal, green scan lines moved up and down over its glass walls. There was a control board there, displaying an energy blast on a screen next to which there were two round buttons.

In a monotone voice, the android said, "This room will replicate your movement and appearance onto your virtual reality character. You are allowed to choose between button number 1 for the standard qi projectile, and button number 2 for custom projectiles including detachable body parts – provided you have them in real life. Projectiles will be regenerated every thirty seconds after you've used them. Good luck, ma'am."

"Thank you, but I'm not the one who will need good luck," Amelia said, entering the VR room with a look of determination on her face.

The android closed the door to the room and stood guard next to it.

Amelia selected button number 1. A flash of light surrounded her from the room's walls. It was as if she had entered a memory tape. Except instead of being sent into a world made of memories, she found herself in the arena, towering over the other denizens. She looked at her hands. They were see-through. She became the hologram.

A wasp denizen's hologram appeared in front of her, with four fists raised and ready. From somewhere in the crowd behind the wasp, Alrick watched.

Amelia raised her fists too, and the sound of a loud gong echoed throughout the city. Each of the competitors was given a large, green health bar that hovered high above the arena and displayed the bar owner's name.

"Fight!" a robotic voice shouted.

* * *

"Oh, oh! It's starting!" Jam said.

Samantha squinted at Amelia's hologram. "I hope she gets stung."

The first to attempt a punch was Vespi. Amelia blocked the attack with her left arm and delivered a kick to the giant wasp's left leg. The wasp took one step back, then delivered an uppercut to Amelia's chin.

Jam gasped. "That wasp sure is brual!"

Samantha smirked.

Amelia made a comeback with a left hook to Vespi's head, then avoided the wasp's counter-attack by bending backwards as the insect's fist swung past her chin.

"I suspect Amelia's been in fights before," Jam said. "Those reflexes are incredible!"

Amelia dodged attack after attack and landed three kicks and a punch on the wasp.

Vespi swiftly turned around and whacked Amelia with her wings before launching her detached stinger at Amelia, who kicked the needle away just before it reached her.

"You move pretty fast for an old passenger," Vespi said.

Amelia smiled. "You're no slouch either."

The wasp bent her knees. "Let me show you another cool move." She jumped at Amelia while using her wings to fly and deliver a punch.

Amelia ducked and punched her from below, then dodged a tail swing. Then she kicked the wasp's legs, tripping her before grabbing her by the wings and throwing her to the floor.

Vespi's health bar was completely red, and her hologram faded away.

"Victory!" the robotic announcer said. "Amelia Hughes goes forward!"

Amelia had a huge grin on her face.

* * *

Samantha muttered some nasty words that Jam couldn't properly hear.

Amelia returned to the table, looking smug.

"Not bad for your first match," Jam said.

Samantha sighed. "Beginner's luck."

The hologram announced the next competitors. "Alrick Timmens vs Ice Burg".

Amelia scowled. "He really believes he's a dead man, doesn't he?"

"At least he had a name to use when he came into existence," Jam said. "It took me a while to decide what mine would be."

The holograms of Alrick and a bulky, bipedal iceberg creature appeared in the arena. After the gong rang, the health bars appeared and the announcer said, "Fight!"

Jam watched the match and calmly said, "My bro's gonna go wild on that opponent."

Indeed, Alrick spared no second and attacked. He was the first to land a punch, straight in the chest of Ice Burg. The ice creature tried to land a kick, but the tortoise jumped in the air with his jets, then raised his fist. He let himself land the punch hard on top of Ice Burg's blocky head, pinning him to the ground and shattering his ice body all over.

The creature's health bar only had a small green line left.

Alrick gently kicked Ice Burg's left flank, adding another crack. This resulted in Ice Burg's health bar being completely depleted.

"Impeccable victory!" the announcer said. "Alrick Timmens advances!"

"Quite a violent fellow," Samantha commented.

"In video games, he goes all out," Jam said, "but in real life, he's a bit more restrained. He doesn't want to hurt people, but he does enough to convince them not to mess with him again."

Amelia watched the arena with a stern expression on her face.

* * *

Another half an hour later, it was Amelia's turn to fight another denizen. She entered the VR room and became one with the hologram again.

This time she had to fight a slug creature from the black market car.

"This doesn't seem fair," Amelia said as the gong went off. "This denizen doesn't even have limbs."

The mustached gray slug glared at her and said, in a masculine voice, "Don't get too cocky, old lady! I didn't get this far by being bad at this game."

"Fight!" the announcer shouted, and the match started.

The slugman jumped at Amelia and wrapped himself around her, constricting her as if he were a snake. This drained a quarter of her health bar.

Amelia used her right arm and grabbed the frying pan from her backpack, then placed it between the slug's body and hers, freeing herself and delivering a kick to her opponent.

The slugman rolled away as if he were a tire, but then returned at full speed toward her.

Amelia dodged and kicked him, causing him to flip on the side. Then she smacked his head with the frying pan.

That wasn't enough to stop the slugman. He secreted mucus out of his skin and flicked his tail, launching a green ball of stickiness at her.

Amelia took the hit in the right shoulder. She looked at her health bar. It was down by one third of its length. Still in a better state than the slugman's, which was down by half.

"You came here straight from the kitchen, haven't ya?" the slugman asked. "Is that why your weapon of choice is a frying pan?" He chuckled at her.

Amelia had a bored scowl on her face. "You're going to regret that." She put the frying pan back and charged at the slug, grabbing him by the tail and spinning him around before letting him go.

The slugman's hologram flew into the arena's invisible wall and slammed into it hard, fading away as his health bar was down to zero.

"Victory!" the announcer said. "Amelia Hughes makes it to the final!"

* * *

Amelia joined her companions at the table again.

"That was awesome!" Jam said.

"You'll run out of luck eventually," Samantha told her. "If Alrick makes it to the finals, I don't think you stand a chance."

The hologram announced the next match. "Alrick Timmens vs Cen Taurus" was written above the arena.

Alrick's hologram appeared, then was joined by that of Cen, a red denizen that looked like a horse with the head being a goat-humanoid upper body with a head that had two long, forward-facing horns.

Looking bored, Jam said, "Yeah, my brother's going to win this one too. No doubt about it."

Alrick's hologram stood there, hands on hips and waiting for his opponent to make a move.

Cen looked for a weak spot in the tortoise's armor, then charged at him with his hooves.

Alrick simply stepped to the side before karate-chopping Cen's horse back. The attack cut down one third of Cen's health.

"Sneaky one, aren't you?" Cen asked. He put his arms' goat hooves together and launched from between them a red ball of fire at Alrick.

"Heh," Alrick said before jumping into the air and avoiding the attack. "My turn." He joined his wrists.

The hatches on his armor's palms opened up and fired a blue blast that hit Cen in the face. Cen was down to only one third of his health bar.

Cen spat onto the arena's floor, then said. "Your armor's doin' all the work. I bet you're slow as an actual tortoise if you take it off."

Alrick smirked. "Is that a challenge, mate?" He came out of his armor, revealing his bony tortoise shell as well as his dark brown hoodie and white pants.

Cen saw this as the perfect opportunity to attack. What a fool his opponent was to let his ego get the best of him.

Alrick saw Cen's hoof and grabbed it with his hands. Then he delivered a kick to Cen's horse ribs.

Cen was down to a quarter of his health. He glared at the tortoise and said, "You don't even hit hard like this. You're slow and weak."

"Indeed, I am no match for you without my armour," Alrick said mockingly.

Cen stomped the ground with his right leg, then fired a qi blast from his hands.

Alrick retracted into his shell and dropped on his back, avoiding the blast. Then he used his legs to turn his shell around and brought his arms and head out. He joined his wrists and fired a blast back at the centaur, landing the hit.

Cen was down to only a fifth of his health. "How is this possible?!"

"Maybe if you'd stop underestimating me while I have my armour off, you'd stand a chance," Alrick said.

"Maaah!" Cen shouted as he charged at Alrick, ready to trample him.

Alrick flipped himself upright by rolling to the side, avoiding the legs of the centaur. He turned around and delivered an uppercut to Cen just as the centaur turned to face his opponent. The last bit of Cen's health bar was gone.

"Impeccable victory!" the announcer said. "Alrick Timmens goes to the final!"

"I knew he'd win," Jam said, "but I didn't think he'd pull it off while putting himself at a disadvantage against his opponent."

Samantha grinned at Amelia. "I think you should quit before he embarrasses you, Amelia. You won't be able to deliver one punch before he knocks you out."

Amelia slammed her hands on the table. "No. I can't let him acquire that weapon. I must do this."

"I wish you all the luck in the world, mom," Jam said.

Amelia smiled at him. "Thank you. At least someone here believes in me." She then turned to look at the hologram.

The text "Amelia Hughes vs Alrick Timmens" appeared hovering over the arena.

It was time for her to go head to head with her creation – her son.

* * *

Amelia entered the VR room. Sweat poured off her forehead as she worried about how things would go. She knew how good her Alrick was at video games, and she witnessed how good this Alrick was at this tournament. Was there any hope for her to win?

Alrick's hologram already appeared in the arena. It stared at her through those red glasses that almost fully obscured his eyes.

Amelia put her backpack on the floor for a moment. She took off her shirt and tied it around her waist with its sleeves, then put her backpack on again. The VR room sent her mind into her hologram, and she found herself face to face with Alrick.

"Amelia," he said. "It is I, your former fiancé! Remember me?"

Amelia scowled at him.

He sighed. "I guess you don't find it acceptable that I have returned from the dead. After all, you have already tried to replace me _twice_."

"You are not him."

His mouth remained open for a second. "Pardon?"

She closed her eyes. "You are not Alrick Timmens. He is gone forever."

"Oh, you _wish_ I were gone forever! Then you could enjoy your new relationship with that murderer you've brought back to life!" His blood boiling, Alrick threw a punch at Amelia.

She blocked the hit with her left arm, but even so it cost her one fifth of her health. "Calm down, son!"

"Son?" Alrick asked. "So now you think of me as a toddler, huh? Was I not your man?" He kicked at her legs, but missed. "Am I not worthy of your respect anymore?"

"I have created you," Amelia said calmly. "I have the right to call you 'son'."

"You've brought me back to life just so I could suffer!" he said as he threw another punch aimed at her chest.

Amelia blocked it. "No. That's not true."

"Not true? Not true is all this stuff you're telling me!" He managed to land a kick on her left leg.

The pain wasn't as bad as it would have been in reality, but it still told her the hit was a nasty one. Her health was already down by a quarter.

"You could have left me to rest in peace, but you just had to have both of us!" He joined his armor's wrists and fired a blast at her.

Amelia quickly dodged the shot and almost landed a kick on Alrick. Unfortunately for her, he jumped to the side and avoided it.

"I will kick your arse again, just like I did countless times before when we played on the console," Alrick said. "Oh, I still remember the look on your face every time you realized you were doomed to lose! You were holding on to that joystick as if it was your lifeline. Yet you've lost to me over, and over, and over ..."

"I won a few times!" Amelia said as she tried to deliver a punch to his chest.

He blocked the hit and kicked her, causing her to fall flat on the floor. "Yes, while I was sick."

Amelia tried to get up, but received a kick that sent her rolling to the edge of the arena. She stopped just in time to avoid having her face smacked against the wall. Then she got up and grabbed her frying pan.

"You used to make some amazing pancakes," he said. "I guess now only _he_ will get to enjoy them." He pointed at Jam.

Amelia pointed the frying pan at Alrick. "You can both enjoy them after you stop this mad quest of yours to make your own train."

Alrick crossed his arms. "You like playing both sides, huh?"

"I'm playing no one!" Amelia said. "You are not who you think you are."

"I am Alrick Timmens!" he said as he punched her right in the chest.

She resisted, but her health was down to half. Before she could retaliate, she received a qi blast too, ending up down to only a third of her health, but still standing.

Alrick used his jets to launch himself at her, then attempted to whack Amelia with his right arm. He missed, so he tried to kick her, but she avoided the attack.

Amelia raised the frying pan and said, "You are not him!" She swung the weapon.

Alrick blocked the attack with his armor's right hand. She had managed to put a small dent in his health bar. "Pathetic," he said.

Samantha said, "I agree. This _is_ pathetic."

"There's got to be some way for her to win," Jam said.

Alrick and Amelia kept trying to land punches and kicks on each other, but both of them dodged the hits. They became familiar with each other's moves. Not even the qi attacks were a surprise anymore. But there was only one thing Amelia hadn't used yet during the match.

"What is she doing?" Samantha asked.

Amelia grabbed the harpoons of her pack. She launched them at Alrick's chest, then pulled herself to him. Once she was close enough, she swung her left leg and kicked him in the chin.

Alrick's health was down by one third.

Amelia retracted her harpoons and grinned at him. "Didn't see that one coming, did you?"

"I'll watch out for it next time," Alrick said, wiping his mouth with his armor's left hand.

"Oh, I'm not that daft to repeat the same trick," she said.

"Then bring on your next move! I'm getting bored of this." He charged at her and tried to punch her, but missed again.

She ran toward him, and he ran toward her. She shot her harpoons at his shoulders, then pulled herself toward him again.

Alrick put his arms in front of his face, and Amelia stepped on them, jumping off him. By the time he lowered his arms so he could see what was going on, Amelia fired a qi blast at him, then pulled herself toward his head, knocking him out with her boots.

"Victory!" the announcer said. "Our new champion is Amelia Hughes!"

* * *

Amelia exited the VR room while staring at the number in her right palm. It had decreased to 33.

An android presented her with the prize: the net launcher. She took it and held it above herself, smiling smugly at Samantha.

The cat hissed at her, making sure her fangs could be seen.

Jam raised his right fist in the air as he cheered at Amelia.

To Amelia's surprise, Alrick came up to her. He didn't seem angry about losing. Instead, he had a smirk on his face and was in his human form – a perfect version of Alrick with long hair. "Congratulations, Amelia! You've beaten me at a game for the first time in what seems like forever." He took off his red shades to reveal his normal pair of glasses, as well as a good view of those eyes Amelia hadn't seen in over 33 years.


	6. The Vegetable Garden Car

It seemed as if they were in a staring contest. Neither Amelia nor Alrick could blink. For her it seemed like her dream manifested before her eyes, after so many failed tries, even if this Alrick had long, uncombed hair. For him it was difficult to even make sense of the situation, but he still kept a mischievous smile on his face.

Jam decided to step in. "Bro, please don't hurt her!"

Amelia gave the net launcher to Jam. "Strap it to one of your arms and keep it out of your brother's reach. I don't want him to get what he needs to gain an advantage over us."

Jam took the weapon and strapped it to his armor's left arm.

Alrick stopped smiling, then stared at Jam with half-closed eyes. "Oh, look. It's my replacement."

"I am no one's replacement!" Jam said.

"Then why did you stay behind with her?" Alrick asked. He took a moment to gaze upon Amelia's body, mostly focusing on her tank top. "Hey, I can't blame you. Even for her age, she still looks quite … dishy." A dirty grin formed on his face.

Jam's jaw dropped. "Dude, she's your _mom_!"

Amelia crossed her arms and scowled at Alrick. She wanted none of that Oedipus stuff.

"Yeah, right," Alrick said. "Enough with the pretending, Jam. I know you're playing along to fool me. After all, I did find you not wearing your armour next to her atop that tree. Wouldn't surprise me if you were romancing her already."

Jam grimaced at him. "What the hell, bro?! She may have the look, but just knowing that she's my mom kills any spark of attraction I could develop toward her!"

Amelia zipped up the top piece of her suit while saying, "I know this is confusing for you, Alrick. You have all these memories of a life you've never lived, and nothing else to go by when it comes to who you are. It is my responsibility to help you make sense of all of it. So, please, let me fill you in on what happened prior to the moment you woke up on the train."

Alrick pointed at her. "You're just trying to get rid of me so you can live the rest of your life with your coworker!" He pushed Jam away with force.

"Ahem! Excusez-moi!" Samantha said, standing next to Alrick's armored feet.

Alrick looked down at her. "Huh? A french cat?" He giggled in exactly the same way Amelia remembered her Alrick used to giggle.

Samantha gave him an icy glare. "If you push my deceased friend's son like that again, I will give Amelia another Alrick to mourn."

Amelia pointed at her. "You, stay out of this!"

Her son said, "There isn't another Alrick. _I_ am Alrick, and I'm back for revenge."

Amelia let out a growled sigh while putting her hands on her head. "You are not the one who should be taking revenge. If anyone deserves to be angry with me, it's the real Alrick. But he's dead, and nothing's going to change that."

"Keep telling yourself that," Alrick said.

"Just trust me for a moment!" she said. "I can show you everything that happened. But first we need to get out of this car and find an unpopulated one. I can't risk having the denizens steal any tape devices I have on me."

"You're going to kill me, aren't you?"

Amelia pointed at her belt. "See this thing? If I really wanted you gone, I could have just disintegrated you with it. What I want is to show you the truth, then you can decide for yourself if you want to believe in it or not."

Alrick stared at her, trying to see if he could find any hint of ill intention. Either she was really good at manipulation, or she genuinely wanted to help him. Unable to figure her out, he said, "Fine. I'll listen to your tale."

Amelia smiled at him. "Then let's go find a safe place where we can talk about this."

* * *

The four travelers ended up in a vegetable garden car, where all plants were ripe for the picking.

Amelia took it upon herself to make salad for her companions. She brought out a butterfly knife and sliced the tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and lettuce, then added a bit of oil that she carried mainly for frying eggs. Once the salad was ready, she put the red plastic bowl at the center of their group and said, "Dig in if you fancy some."

Jam, now in human form, was the first to grab some lettuce and tomatoes with his hand. He ate them, then said, "Tastes good. Definitely better than the stuff we used to eat before we've met you."

Alrick grabbed some salad too and ate it. With his mouth half-full, he said, "You may not be able to properly cook anything other than pancakes, but you always did nail the salads."

Amelia chuckled. "Actually, I've improved my cooking skills. After spending time with my daughter, I've baked cakes and pies, learned to make a mean roast, and I no longer burn eggs."

Alrick choked on some lettuce. "Daughter?!" He glared daggers at Jam.

"Don't look at me like that, bro!" Jam said as he shrank away. "She's talking about our sister. The kid isn't mine, I swear!"

While Samantha sat next to the salad bowl and refused to touch any of the food, Amelia tried to clarify what she meant. "Hazel is one of your many sisters, but the only one who can shapeshift between human and turtle form. She was created out of a ghom, just like you and Jam were. I'm not sure if she has a father or not, or if she has one or two mothers. I know it sounds complicated, but this is what happens when you try to scan a memory tape and children start messing with your scanner."

Alrick squinted at her. "What is this memory tape I keep hearing about?"

"I will show you after I finish eating my part of the salad," Amelia said. "Please, can we just have one family dinner without arguing? It's all I wish for right now."

"Fine," Alrick said. "I am kind of hungry. But after this, you will tell me everything, or else ..."

Jam stared at his brother with concern after hearing the way he worded that.

* * *

After the salad was all gone, it was time for Amelia to tell her story. She brought the tape extractors and the tape reader out of her backpack. "While I extract a new tape from my head, I will tell you what kind of person you are dealing with here."

The brothers and the cat watched her put the extractors on the top of her head. The tiny robots scratched with their stubby legs at her hair, causing the tape to form and come out.

"After Alrick's death, I would have ended my life if it hadn't been for this train," Amelia said. "I boarded it hoping to find aliens or any higher power that could help me bring my Alrick back."

"And you got him, but you refuse to accept him," Alrick muttered.

Amelia scowled at him, but continued as her tape poured down. "I've traveled from car to car, asked the denizens about who was in charge, and some of them told me to head to the locomotive to speak with the Conductor. As I continued my journey, I came across the tape car – the place where passengers are analyzed and receive their numbers before they get sent to other cars."

"That place can be a nice source of entertainment too, if you want to sit and watch people's tapes," Samantha said.

"That's where I came across some cassettes stored in a rack," Amelia said. "I found my name on one of them, and noticed that some porter robots placed the cassettes inside a slot below a giant screen. I've inserted mine there, and I ended up trapped inside my own memories, once again tormented by the loss of my Alrick. When I woke up, I saw a robot the size of a football, and I was amused when he told me he is the Conductor. He explained the purpose of the train and how he can create cars that have their own worlds and rules of physics, making them places where anything could happen. I begged him countless times to build a car with the place where I used to live, and where my Alrick was still alive. He told me to stop sniveling and face reality, then he ordered the Steward to shove me into a pod and send me back to restart my journey through the train cars."

Amelia's tape extraction was complete, but she didn't put it into the player yet.

"Once my pod landed, I broke its interior devices and swore to return and force the Conductor to do as I demanded. I've made deals with the slugs from the black market just like you two did. Then I've built my mech with my pod as its head, and went straight to the locomotive. I ripped One out of the control board and imitated the tune he used to control the Steward, making it my servant. I threw One into the snow car, which was the latest car at that time. Then I sent it away so he'd have a hard time returning to the locomotive while I took over and appropriated all the technology of the train. From there I've tried and failed numerous times to recreate my town and my Alrick. A passenger convinced me to stop the madness, but way too late. I've caused so much damage … You weren't the only ones who ended up suffering. I've turned many denizens into ghoms, and my team and I managed to turn back most of them. However, two gorilla children who got in my way before I turned them into ghoms flew off the train and are now part of the wasteland's fauna."

"I am appalled by what you have become," Alrick said. "Moreover, I am surprised your number isn't higher."

"Oh, it _was_ higher," Amelia said. "It went all the way up to just under my chin. I've worked hard to make amends, fixed what I could fix, accepted what I could not." She looked at the 33 in her palm. "Now I guess all that's left for me is to solve your problem and offer you a better life, possibly in the U.K. if we can all get off this train. If not, maybe the gravity turtle college car could make a good home for you."

Alrick raised his arms. "They tried to kill us there!"

"Back then there was a misunderstanding. Now they'll have no reason to hunt you down again, because my deceased coworker signed a peace treaty with Emperor Aloysius."

"Even so, I don't think they can ever forgive us for throwing a pack of ghoms at them," Alrick said.

"The turtle people were all alive when my coworker and I arrived there, so they probably won't be too angry about that incident."

Alrick stared at the tape. "Are you going to explain what that tape does?"

"I won't just explain," Amelia said. "I will show you." She inserted the tape into the player and started it up.

A white flash of light engulfed all four members of the gang.

* * *

They found themselves in a white-walled room with large, static-filled holes with cracked edges.

"Where are we?" Alrick asked.

"I'm trying to find the oldest memory I have," Amelia said. She concentrated, causing the surroundings to take the shape of a classroom. It was in her primary school, and her classmates were all made of static except for one: kid Alrick. Kid Amelia was also there next to him, looking sad after getting a low grade from her teacher. A jar of jam was on the two's desk.

Alrick looked around. "Why are all the other children covered in static?"

Amelia looked at the essay paper held by kid Alrick and saw the date. "This memory is from 1963. A lot of time has passed from then till now, so I've forgotten what the other children looked like."

"Well, I still remember them," Alrick said.

The kids all gained faces, colors, and details.

"This is exactly how I remember this place too," Jam said. "It's no wonder I couldn't figure out where I used to sit in the classroom; I was never there to begin with."

Amelia looked at Alrick – the one who was her son – and said, "You can influence my tape!"

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" he asked.

"I guess it's to be expected," Amelia said. "I used my old tape to create you. Your memories are compatible with mine, so you can fill in the missing pieces."

"Ooh! This is my favorite part!" Jam said, gaining a stupid smile on his face.

Alrick grinned at the teacher. "Ow yeah!"

The teacher sat on her chair and … Prrt! She shot up and grabbed the whoopee cushion off her seat, showing it to the class with a scowl and saying something – it was unclear what – to one of her pupils. The incident amused kid Amelia and the rest of her classmates.

"She blamed Mark for it!" Alrick said through his laughter.

Present day Amelia had a smile on her face too, but then she remembered that her Alrick was gone, so a frown took over. "Let's see what other memories I can find. Maybe they'll help me get my number down too."

The surroundings became bright white before darkening and showing her a bunch of floating photos representing the most cherished moments of her life. In almost all of them she was with her fiancé.

"Haha! I've been besting you at video games ever since we were teenagers!" Alrick said while pointing at the picture showing a teenage Alrick with an evil grin and a teenage Amelia who looked very tensed up. "Oh, here's one with our first dance lessons! And there's that Christmas when we got that tall tree and I had to step on a chair so I could put the star on its tip. And that time my chocolate ice cream fell. Hmm, our college graduation day. Not really the most pleasant of memories. I was very nervous there."

"That was when I wiped Alrick's face with my turtle pattern handkerchief," Amelia said while the picture showed that moment as video. "My scanner kept mixing that pattern into my creations. It is the reason why you take the form of a tortoise denizen. The machine must have thought the handkerchief's turtles were a solution to stress."

"Why do you keep referring to my past self as if I was another person back then?" Alrick asked. "I am still here! I remember all of this! I remember it better than you do!"

The memory of Amelia proposing to Alrick played in the background.

"Because you're not him!" Amelia said. "This is what I'm trying to show you! These aren't your memories. They are mine."

The memory warped into a wedding where Amelia wore a white dress while Alrick wore a tuxedo. The priest – covered in static – said, "You may kiss the bride."

Amelia stared wide-eyed at the scene before her. "This … never happened."

"And after how much you've hurt me lately, it'll _never_ happen," Alrick said, changing into his tortoise appearance while tears formed in his eyes. He tried to leave the tape, but he hit an invisible wall. He put his armored hands on the barrier. "You've trapped me in here! I knew it!"

"It's not me doing this! It's the tape! It thinks you're me, so it won't let you go until you solve the problems stemming from your past."

"This isn't right!" Alrick said. "I'm not you! I am me! We are two separate entities!"

Jam tried to get out of the tape too, but was met with the same invisible wall. "Looks like I'm trapped in here as well."

Samantha said, "I'll go outside and keep an eye on you all. If you need me to stop the projection, simply tell me."

"We'll be here for a while," Amelia said. "I must face my memories."

The scene morphed from the wedding that never happened to the real proposal moment when the original Alrick kissed young Amelia.

Alrick the tortoise said, "This tape isn't mine, so these aren't my memories. That is why … I am getting out of here!" He ran through the invisible wall and disappeared.

"Brother?" Jam said.

An unseen force tugged at Jam's net launcher. He tried to pull his left arm back and use his right arm to grab at what was causing that to him, but there was nothing there. His net launcher dissolved.

"Alrick took my net launcher!" Jam said.

"Samantha! Stop him!" Amelia said.

* * *

Outside, Samantha kept jumping at Alrick, trying to scratch his face. He blocked her claw attacks with his arms every time. Finally, he managed to strap the net launcher onto his left arm. With a push of the blue button on the weapon's top, he captured Samantha in the blue glowing net the gun launched.

The cat frowned at him. "Why are you doing this? We tried to help you."

"I don't need your help," Alrick said. "All that woman ever does is hurt me. Well, I've outsmarted her this time." He clenched his right fist while towering over the feline. "I'm taking over this train and freeing myself from everyone who has caused me pain."

He ran away, leaving Samantha to struggle inside the net while Amelia and Jam were still staring blankly at the tape's projection.

* * *

Jam kept slamming his armored fists into the invisible wall, trying to escape the tape. Seeing no results, he stopped and said, "There's got to be another way out. I hope Samantha doesn't get hurt." He heard sniffling behind him, so he turned around.

Amelia was kneeling and crying while watching a memory of the dreaded phone call she received. Her past self was in tears too.

Jam put his left hand on her right shoulder. "Mom, I understand it was a difficult moment in your life, but sometimes things happen and … we have no control over when and how they happen. It's not your fault."

Amelia looked into his eyes and wiped her tears with her right palm.

The scene changed to the memory of when young Amelia refused to go to Alrick's funeral. A man's voice came from outside the house, saying, "I know it's hard, but it'll be good to go. We're all here for you."

"I never went to Alrick's funeral," present Amelia said while watching her past self, who was dressed in Alrick's hoodie, sitting on the floor, and pressed against a desk.

The memory was stuck on a loop where the rain continued to pour while past Amelia cried.

"You said the tape won't let you go unless you solve the problems stemming from your past, right?" Jam asked.

Amelia wiped more tears away from her eyes. "Yes, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to solve this. I can't go back in time and take part in his funeral. The train won't even grant me that one small request."

Jam frowned. "Then your problem is unsolvable. Does this mean we'll be stuck in here until we die?"

"Wait," Amelia said. "You're right. My problem is unsolvable." She got back on her feet. "A wise girl named Tulip Olsen once told me that we have to adapt to the changes in our lives, because that's the only way things can get better. There is nothing for me here. I can't bring my Alrick back to life, and I can't turn back the time, but I can try to stop my son before he gets himself killed." Her hand grabbed Jam's, and she smiled at him. She could hear her number make a sound.

He smiled back and said, "There is nothing for me here either. These were never my problems, and I have a brother to save from himself."

They walked together into the invisible wall, which changed into a bright white light before bringing them back to the real world.

* * *

Samantha was still squirming inside the net, trying to chew it with no visible progress.

Jam ran to her aid. "Samantha! Did he hurt you?"

"Your brother is a brute," she said. "But you were right; he does hold back when he strikes."

Jam untied the net and released the cat from it.

Amelia asked, "Where did he go?"

"Outside, of course," Samantha said. "You're a bad mother, Amelia. One of your sons is an emotional wreck, and the other named himself after food."

"Hey!" Jam shouted, scowling. "I like my name."

"You can judge my mothering skills after we stop this madness," Amelia said. "Jam! Help us track Alrick down!"

"I gotcha covered!" Jam said, showing the green dot and the red arrow on his armor's screen. "Samantha, hop into my backpack and let's go!"

The cat jumped in, then Jam and Amelia ran for the door that had been forced open by Alrick's fists.


	7. The Dirt Bike Car

"You forgot the tape player, didn't you?" Samantha asked, side glancing at Amelia while sticking out of Jam's backpack.

"We don't have time to go back for it," Amelia said, running beside Jam.

"Then how are we going to convince my brother that he's not who he thinks he is?" Jam asked.

Amelia launched herself at the next car with her harpoons before answering. "We'll have to corner him first. Then we can try to get it through his thick skull."

Jam jetted himself off the previous car and landed behind her before continuing the chase. He could see Alrick about six cars up ahead.

Alrick checked his right arm's screen, then jumped off the top of the train car, landing on the bridge. He punched the door open and entered.

"His battery must be really low," Jam said. "He chose to walk instead of jet." He looked at his own battery display. "Mine's at 20%. I'll need to find replacements soon."

"You guys should have used accumulators," Amelia said, running and launching herself off cars with the harpoons.

Jam stared at her, puzzled. "What?"

"Batteries that you can recharge."

After they both landed on the sixth car, Jam said, "Oh. I'm not sure if I should be glad or cheesed off that my brother didn't think of picking up some of those and adding chargers to our armors."

"I see you know at least one British term," Amelia said, grinning at him.

"I know a few others too," Jam said, jumping off the car and landing with his armored feet on the bridge. After Amelia joined him, he added, "But I'm more comfortable using American terms for those definitions."

The trio entered the car through the destroyed door. The place looked like a desert. In the distance, they saw Alrick talk with a humanoid boar denizen who had a brown leather jacket on. There were ten motorcycles near the two, and Alrick seemed a bit nervous.

"He isn't going to ride a dirt bike, is he?" Amelia said, looking horrified.

Jam stared at Alrick with a worried look. "He hates bikes because … well, you know. But he might be desperate enough to do it."

Amelia ran toward Alrick. "Don't do it! You'll crash!"

Alrick looked at Amelia, then at the nearest motorcycle, then back at her. Trying to run on the sandy, narrow road that had deep canyons on its sides, he ended up being brought back to the boar by a sand tornado.

"Sir," the boar said, "you'll have to use a bike, otherwise the car will keep bringing you back here."

Seeing no other way out of the situation, Alrick hopped on a motorcycle and took to the road with it.

"Sir, you forgot to take a helmet!" the boar said, pointing to the shelf full of colorful helmets to his left. "I hope he doesn't crash." He saw Amelia and Jam approach him.

Jam said, "We need motorcycles. Can you lend us two, please?"

"Sure," the boar told him. "It's the only way to get to the other side anyway. The sand tornadoes won't let you walk there. And please remember to take a helmet."

Amelia stared at Jam with a sad look. "Can't we just go outside and wait for him on the other end of the car?"

"He can still track me, so he'll just take the opposite end to the one where I'd wait. Then he'll just dodge us and keep running atop the train."

"Each of us can wait for him on one end," Amelia said.

"But neither of us can take him on alone!"

"If he's tracking your armour, then you can just leave it on one side so we can ambush him on the other."

"We need my armor, otherwise he'll escape!" Jam said, raising his hands in the air.

"But ..." Amelia turned to look at the motorcycle near her. "No! I don't want a repeat of what happened to my Alrick!"

"My brother's already on the bike, mom," Jam said. "It could happen to him too. We need to stop him before it does."

She had tears in her eyes. "What if it happens to you instead?"

He put on the most serious expression he could. "If it happens, it happens. All I can do is be extra careful." After grabbing a red helmet and putting it on, he hopped on a motorcycle, turned on the kill switch, and stepped on the kick starter, bringing the engine to life. "If we worry about what _could_ happen, we'll never change what _will_ happen."

Amelia wiped away her tears with her right sleeve and grabbed a green helmet. She equipped herself with it and hopped on a motorcycle too. "Let's hope I won't crash either."

They took it slow at first, getting used to the turns and maintaining their balance, but after a few minutes they got the hang of riding the motorcycles.

Amelia never imagined she'd enjoy the speed again. In the past, she and her fiancé rode bicycles together on the beach, but he had also shown her how he rode his dirt bike. It was a bit more complicated than riding a bicycle, even though there was no pedaling needed. She had to control the acceleration and front brakes with her right hand and the rear brakes with her right foot while using the clutch with her left hand. Then there was the shifter, which shifted gears as she used her left foot to push or raise it. The bike was noisy compared to its non-motorized counterpart, but she managed to tune out the loudness the more she went on.

Samantha enjoyed the wind blowing through her fur while she looked around from Jam's backpack.

They were getting closer and closer to Alrick, who kept looking behind himself from time to time.

"Alrick, stop before you get hurt!" Amelia said.

"Like you care!" Alrick shouted back.

"I do care! So does your brother!"

"Yeah, bro!" Jam said. "Even though you've been a massive jerk toward me, I just want you to be with us as part of our family! It's where you belong!"

"If I don't belong in her heart, then I don't belong anywhere!" Alrick said, accelerating more.

Jam reached out with his left hand. "Bro! No!"

"He'll crash if he keeps going at that speed!" Amelia said.

"Then we'll have to speed up too."

Amelia stared at him with wide eyes. "Are you crazy?!"

"Heh, maybe," Jam said before he went full throttle, causing her to accelerate as well just to keep up.

From a road to their right, a group of seven green humanoid lizard people with black leather jackets and no helmets joined in. Neither Jam nor Amelia were prepared for what was about to happen.

One of the lizard people kicked Jam from the side, causing him to crash.

"We recognize your stench from a mile away," another lizard guy said.

Amelia braked and turned around, then stopped in the middle of the lizard bikers, who also stopped there. "What are you doing, you hooligans?"

The lizard guy hissed as he whipped the air with his long, blue tongue, then said, "You Apex have skinned our people alive. We will do the same to you, starting with your leader." He pointed with a claw at Jam, who got back on his feet.

"Here we go again," Jam said, rolling his eyes.

"The Apex is no more," Amelia said, "and Jam was never in it. The person you are looking for has been dead for about two weeks now."

"We recognize the face of that killer even through the visor of that helmet," the lizard guy said. "I'll never forget those cold eyes."

Amelia stared at Jam's eyes, but all she saw was sadness in them. She looked back at the yellow-eyed lizard guy. "He's the killer's son! He's not responsible for what his father did to you!"

The lizards laughed at her. Samantha hissed at them.

"Such an absurd lie!" the lizard guy said. "The blond passenger's in his early twenties at most. How can he have a son who also looks like he's in his early twenties?"

"Jam's some kind of ... clone," Amelia said. "Look, it's difficult to explain, and we have something important to do, so if you could all just–"

The lizard guy rammed his bike into hers, causing her to crash on her left side.

"Mom!" Jam yelled. He tried to kick the lizard guy's motorcycle, but the lizard dodged.

Samantha jumped at the lizard guy and scratched his face before she hopped back into Jam's backpack.

Amelia got up and said, "Stop attacking us, or else I'll send you all into the pits!"

The lizard guy had an evil grin on his scratched face. "You and what army? It's seven of us against three of you!"

"Wrong. It's seven of you against my sound shield."

The lizards tried to push them off the road with their bikes, but got repelled by Amelia's sound shield and sent tumbling into the pit to the left. Nobody died, as the fall was short, but they would have difficulty climbing up the steep terrain. There was no way to take their bikes to the top with them.

"I hope you rot in hell, Apex dirtbags!" one of the lizards said.

Another one yelled, "Crash and burn, you sick bastards!"

Amelia and Jam ignored them and got back on their bikes. They noticed that Alrick had stopped to observe the incident from afar. As soon as he saw them ready to go, he turned tail and fled.

The motorcycle chase continued through the twisted roads, sometimes taking them through loops that required going upside-down at high speed to pass. There were moments when they almost caught up to Alrick, but he always found a way to put more distance between himself and them. At times he'd trick them into going for a different road while changing direction in the last second. Other times he would jump from one road to a lower one – something that both Jam and Amelia refused to do due to safety concerns.

"We'll never catch him at this rate," Amelia said.

"You know, maybe we don't have to try to catch him while we're on this narrow road," Jam said. "He'll slow down if he'll see us slow down, so he'll be less likely to crash. Until we get to a car with less dangerous terrain, let's just … enjoy the ride."

They slowed down a bit and continued their journey, laughing, riding side by side, doing wheelies, and enjoying the view as the golden sunset illuminated the canyons and the sandy roads.

Alrick slowed down too, checking on his chasers from time to time. The nerve of those two, having fun in his face while his heart was being tortured by an invisible knife!

The exit was right up ahead, and it unlocked itself, promising freedom once he'd reach it. He went full throttle again. The motorcycle would be useful in saving up battery for his armor, so he decided he would take it with him to the other cars.

Unfortunately for Alrick, the moment he reached the end of the narrow road the motorcycle came to a sudden halt, launching him off itself.

He landed face first into the sand, but got up and tried to take the motorcycle with him. A tornado formed from under the bike and took it away before he could touch it again. After kicking the sand with his armored right foot and growling, he ran for the exit.

Amelia and Jam learned from Alrick's situation and braked before they reached the end of the track. Then they threw their helmets to the ground.

"We'll have to chase him on foot again," Jam said.

"Not as fun as riding bikes, but safer," Amelia said, smiling. As she and Jam exited the car and headed for the next broken door, she looked at her number. At that moment, it went down from 20 to 10.


	8. The Cube Platformer Car

Alrick broke into a grocery store and pointed the net launcher gun at the cashier, who was a lamb dressed in a black vest. He hoped the cashier wouldn't question what the weapon did. "Give me batteries!"

"We're sorry, sir," the trembling cashier said, "but we do not sell batteries. Only fresh vegetables brought from the vegetable garden car."

Alrick growled in frustration and grabbed a lettuce, then shoved it into his backpack before continuing his run.

Amelia, Jam, and Samantha arrived and saw the quivering lamb.

"Sir, have you seen an armoured tortoise denizen come through here?" Amelia asked.

The lamb pointed with his keratinous finger at the destroyed door to his left. "Yes. He broke in, threatened me with a gun, stole a lettuce, then punched the other door open too."

"Sounds like my brother all right," Jam said.

The gang resumed the chase and found another broken door on the next car. It led them to a car full of pumpkins of various sizes. Its sky was a sickening green.

"This is where Grace saw me for the first time," Amelia said. "Well, she saw my mech and my numbered arm to be more exact."

"There's something scary about this place," Jam said. "It might be this atmosphere that's fitting for some Halloween shenanigans."

"It's probably why Grace's memories related to this car looked so terrifying in her tape. The Steward had been chasing her in here until I showed up and called it off."

Samantha shuddered while the hairs on her back stood on end. "Who wouldn't be terrified while being chased by a multi-legged robot with blue flames coming out of its eyes? You ordered it to kill me. I _still_ see it in my nightmares to this day!"

"I've told you I'm sorry!" Amelia said. "I even signed that peace treaty with you. We're no longer enemies, so there's nothing to worry about. Besides, the Steward is under One's command again."

"But you and I are hardly allies," Samantha said.

"I'm trying to be a good ally. Just give me a chance instead of dismissing me as still being the monster I used to be."

Samantha watched her with squinted eyes. "Don't forget: you've greatly disappointed me after we became allies. I'll give you this one last chance. If Jam ends up dead too because of you, then I will burn the bridge and will attack you every time we cross paths."

The travel through the pumpkin car went extremely silent from that point on. So silent that they could hear something get smashed in the distance.

"That must be my brother!" Jam said. He and Amelia ran toward the source of the sound and found a destroyed exit.

They saw Alrick smash open the door to the next car too. He entered and disappeared into its darkness.

Jam put his left arm in front of himself. "I'm a little worried about going into that car, but at least I've got a flashlight." He made the flashlight come out of the hatch of his armor's forearm.

* * *

Alrick jumped on big, metallic cubes that emitted a faint blue glow while floating in a black void. Some of them moved side to side, others up and down, and some diagonally. He observed the gaps in the walls around the room and saw how the cubes were being built on conveyor belts before being released to float to their places in the tall, dark room. One of the components inserted into every cube's top hatch caught his attention: a battery.

* * *

Amelia launched her harpoons at a floating cube and pulled herself toward it, climbing to its top. "We'll have to jump our way up. I think I can see the door there."

"I can see Alrick's jets too," Jam said, pointing at his brother, who jumped from cube to cube and made each one fall after spending some time on it.

"He's trying to prevent us from reaching the top," Samantha said as she watched the cubes drop without their glow.

Jam jumped and landed next to Amelia on the still-floating cube. "There are plenty of cubes that could lead us to the door. I'm sure we can get there."

"We need to be careful," Amelia said before launching herself at a cube that went up and down. "There seems to be a bottomless pit below us. If we fall down there, we'll either smash into some cubes on the way down and get killed if reaching a high enough velocity, or just die after falling for several days."

"You've got your harpoons and I've got my armor," Jam said, knocking his armor's chest with his right hand's knuckles. "We'll be fine."

Amelia jumped to another platform before saying, "As long as these cubes don't all fall at the same time."

Jam joined her on the cube. "It's just like platformer video games, except in first person, and the penalty for falling is death in real life."

Samantha's fur was all puffed up as she stared into the darkness below.

"But it's still fun," he added, jumping and jetting for the nearest cube above him.

* * *

Alrick kept opening the hatches of the cubes, extracting the batteries from within, which he then threw into his backpack before jumping toward higher cubes. The door with a ledge in front of it was just ten jumps away at the top, and he could barely see his enemies below.

* * *

"So," Jam said, "once we get to Earth, assuming it's possible, will we still find many of the things from your memories? Like video games, dirt bikes, blackcurrant jam and such?"

Amelia climbed onto another cube and waited for him to join her. She said, "I don't know what we will find once we get out there. I haven't seen the Earth in over 33 years, and the only information I can get from out there comes from the e-mails Hazel sends me. All I know is that schools still exist, and that there is a talk show aimed to make humans aware of the Infinity Train's existence."

After they jumped onto another cube, Jam continued with the questions. "If my brother and I can come with you to Earth, what will life be like for us out there? I mean, we're some kind of human-turtle hybrids. Will the humans accept us for who we are, or will we have to keep our turtle identities secret for the rest of our lives? Can we marry humans and … have kids with them?"

Amelia pondered for a moment. "I can't give you any concrete answers."

"Then at least tell me what you think might happen," he said, joining her on another cube.

"Some humans will accept you as you are," Amelia said. "But don't expect everyone to be accepting of those different from them. There are humans who hate other humans just because of skin color or class or gender or various other reasons that shouldn't even matter to them. From what Grace told me, things have improved out there, but there's still a long way to go before racism, sexism, and other such prejudices won't be so common."

He frowned. "I guess nowhere is safe from that kind of stuff."

"As for your last question, I suppose you could find people who would marry you. But since you're hybrids, there are high chances that you might be sterile, even if your code somehow passes for DNA."

"What does that last part mean?"

"It means you might not be able to have children with humans, and possibly not even with other denizens. But this is just going by the findings regarding most animal hybrids. There has never been an adult human-denizen hybrid like you before for humans to study."

"Are they going to study me if they find out what I am?"

"Only if you agree to participate in the studies. But first we need to inform the humans about denizens and the Infinity Train. We might have to participate in that talk show eventually."

Jam sighed and continued to jump along.

* * *

Alrick collected the last battery he could acquire on his way up, then jumped onto the blue ledge. He didn't need to punch the door open; it opened itself for him. Before going outside, he turned around to look down. He could see the faint silhouettes of Amelia and Jam on a cube. Knowing they were safe, he finally got out and jetted to the top of the next car.

* * *

"We're almost there," Amelia said, launching her harpoons toward the next cube. She pulled herself to it, climbed to the top, and waited for Jam and Samantha to join her.

Jam jumped, used his jets, and realized that instead of going up he was slowly going down. Looking at his feet, he saw that they were no longer emitting the blue flames. His screen showed the battery at 5%. "Uh-oh!" Then his fall went faster while he flailed his limbs in the air. "Oh crapI'mrunningoutofjuice!"

Amelia quickly shot her harpoon at him, but he failed to reach it with his right hand.

All Samantha could do was shout, "Mon Dieu!" Her voice faded away along with Jam's screams as they disappeared into the black void below.

Amelia shouted, "Jam! Grab onto a cube! Jam! Say something! Samantha! Jam! Samantha!" She sat at the edge of the cube, on her knees, staring at the harpoon pack's cord that dangled toward the darkness. They were gone.

It took a few seconds for her to snap out of shock and think again. She decided to go back down and look for them.

"Jam! Samantha! Give me a sign! Just … Just give me a sign already!" Her eyes started tearing up. "Jam! Samantha!" She was already eight cubes down. At that moment she wondered if it was even worth it to keep going after them. She looked at the top.

The door was barely visible from there, and it was open. Alrick was getting further and further away from her, and if Jam wasn't going to be around anymore, she had no way to track Alrick.

Amelia looked into the abyss again. "Jam! Samantha! Please answer! Alrick is getting away! I'll have to leave if you don't say anything!"

There was only silence as her tears fell into the darkness below.

She screamed, "Jam! Samantha! I'm sorry!" Then, in a barely audible voice, she said, "I've failed you." Her number changed from 10 to 20.

She pointed the harpoons at a cube above her and fired them. As she made her way to the top, the tears continued to fall on the sides of her face and off her chin, staining her suit. She was alone again, and the last person she cared about who was still on the train hated her. On top of all that, she would have to break the news to Alrick that she failed to save his brother. She knew he still cared about Jam, and it would only make him hate her more, but he'd want answers eventually.

* * *

Finally on the ledge and in front of the door, Amelia looked behind her at the abyss. She wanted to scream her companions' names one last time, but decided against doing so. It would only give her more pain if she'd face the silence again. She had to stay on Alrick's trail.

The door to the next car wasn't damaged. Suspecting that Alrick might have gone on the top of the cars instead, she launched herself at the next car and climbed onto it. Up ahead she could see Alrick jet away in the distance. She hurried to catch up to him.

Alrick noticed her and started running faster. A car in front of him was in the process of being shifted. He considered it might be a good opportunity for him to lose Amelia. Either it would head toward the back of the train and force her to slow down, or it would head toward the front, giving him a lift and getting him closer to the locomotive. He jetted on top of it and waited for it to reveal where it was going.

Amelia saw the car take Alrick away from her. She had no chance of catching up to something that fast, unless …

Searching through her backpack, she brought out the e-mailing machine. There was one new e-mail in there.

**Sender: Hazel Hughes  
Subject: Simon might be my dad?!**

Amelia didn't bother to open it. She had to write and send an e-mail to her boss right away.

**To: One  
Subject: I need this car shifted to the front!**

**Please send the car below me after the other car that's near me and heading toward the front. Once the other car stops, stop this one too. Keep an eye out for e-mails in case I need it stopped earlier than that.**

It took less than a minute for a response.

**Sender: One  
Subject: Here you go.**

**Have a safe trip!**

Another e-mail followed.

**Sender: One  
Subject: Try not to fall off.**

**Riding these things is dangerous.**

The car underneath Amelia used its wheels to climb over the cars on its sides. She hooked the harpoons to the car's top for stability and refused to look back, her tears having finally dried up. Once fully lifted, the car darted toward the front of the train.


	9. The Train Riding Car

The two cars traveled fast over the train's top, with a distance of ten cars between them. Amelia's car was closing in while Alrick's slowed down. At some point both cars were moving at slow enough speeds to ensure their riders didn't risk falling off. Amelia had no doubt it was One-One's doing.

Alrick kept staring at her, expecting to see Jam join her on the top of the car. Seeing that his brother wasn't showing up, he checked his radar. The green dot was very far away from his arrow, and it didn't seem to be moving. This made Alrick gasp while his eyes went wide. He glared at Amelia while showing his gritted teeth, then he screeched at the sky.

Amelia, now only three cars away, recognized the sound as a ghom call for backup.

Alrick continued to call toward the wasteland and toward the sky, looking around to see if any ghoms showed up.

A few more calls later, a pack of three burst out from the ground near the train. They flew toward his car and landed before him. The frontmost ghom growled, holding its head lowered while its longest feeler stuck up threateningly.

Alrick growled back at the leading ghom. As soon as the creature charged at him, he simply pressed the ghom's head with his right hand until the creature found itself touching the top of the car with its mouth. He could crush its head if he wanted to, but he had other plans. Proving he was stronger, he convinced the ghom to back off. Then he chittered at it before pointing at Amelia and screeching his orders to the pack.

Amelia saw the ghoms fly toward her, but she wasn't worried. Her belt still had enough battery to repel them, and if they would insist for too long, she was ready to fight them off. She felt some pity for the creatures, but since Jam wasn't around anymore, there was no one to reason with them.

The lead ghom screeched as it landed, causing two more ghoms to pop out of the ground and join in. There was now a pack of five to deal with.

"You better not swarm in on me," Amelia said, scowling at the creatures.

The leading ghom let out its battle cry before charging at her. Its pack followed closely. They all flew together toward her, but were surprised to find themselves pushed away by the invisible sound shield that turned green upon impact with them.

"Alrick! Call them off! I don't want to hurt them!"

Alrick crossed his arms and continued to glare at her. "Why would I?"

"Please, I don't want to fight! It's only hurting those around us!"

"Your companions died because you insisted on following me!" Alrick said, stomping the car's top with his right foot.

As Amelia's shield repelled the ghoms again, she stared at him with her mouth open. He reminded her so much of herself during her time as the False Conductor, and of how she blamed Tulip for Atticus and One-One's apparent deaths.

He shouted, "You just couldn't let go of me! You wanted _both_ of us!"

"I wanted both of you as my _sons_!" Amelia said while her shield repelled the ghoms once more. "And don't you _dare_ blame me for this! You know that Jam wanted to stop you as well. He cared about you. If anyone is responsible for making Jam go through this journey … it is _you_."

Alrick clenched his firsts and closed his eyes. Then he screeched while staring at the sky, causing five other ghoms to come out and land next to him. After grabbing their leader, he threw it over to Amelia's car and screeched his orders while pointing at her.

Wonderful. Now she had _ten_ ghoms to deal with. Her belt's sine wave wasn't looking so good – the battery was running low. She had no choice but to fight them. Grabbing her frying pan, she waited for the next attack.

The ghoms flew at her and received frying pan smacks to their heads, with a few kicks to the sides from time to time. When they tried to absorb her life force, she shoved her backpack into their mouths and pushed them away.

Alrick kept calling for more ghoms, but had no luck in finding any new ones.

Amelia grabbed a ghom by the long tendril and swung it into three other ghoms, then rammed the head of a flying one with her frying pan. Two other ghoms flew at her. She dodged one and kicked the other in the gut. "Don't you cockroaches know when to quit?" She shielded herself with the frying pan when another ghom tried to go for her face.

"Keep wasting your energy," Alrick said. "You're making their job easier." He screeched again, looking around.

Three more ghoms arrived in flight from the back of the train. Amelia put her frying pan back and stared at the odd formation. Ghoms didn't normally fly that close to each other. Why were those three so packed together? Once they got closer to her car, she realized what was going on. "Is that …?"

There were actually only two ghoms in the formation. Their longest feelers were wrapped around the armored arms of Jam, who was in his turtle form.

"He's alive!" Amelia said. Her number went down to 15.

Alrick stared in shock at first, but then smiled and morphed back into a human.

One of the two ghoms sucked some life force out of Jam's left arm and released him. The other one did the same to his right arm and let him fall onto the train's top. Then they joined the other ghoms in surrounding Amelia.

Jam immediately got up and started chasing the shifting car while using his jets to go faster. "Those sneaky, chitinous bastards," he said. "They couldn't even follow through with our deal."

Amelia used her sound shield to repel the twelve ghoms off the car, then launched her harpoons at Jam, sticking them to his armor. He jetted off while being pulled toward the shifting car by the harpoon pack's cords.

After repelling the ghoms again, Amelia safely brought Jam onto the car. They didn't even get the chance to say anything to each other, because Alrick ordered the ghoms to swarm in on them. Instead of repelling the creatures, the duo teamed up to fight them in hand to hand combat.

It seemed to go well at first, with kicks and punches being delivered to the snouts of ghoms. Then Jam ended up overwhelmed by the five ghoms piling on him. One of the creatures that remained on his back tapped him on the head three times with its paw before pressing his scalp with it and standing there with its snout held high.

"Why do my ghom fights always end like this?" Jam asked, looking bored.

The ghom on top of him sucked some of his energy, then chittered in such a way that it seemed to be laughing at him.

Amelia managed to make her way to Jam and delivered a kick to the rear of the ghom who stood on top of him. This made the ghom yelp and fly off then land nearby while growling at her and holding its longest feeler up in the air.

"You just angered their leader," Jam said. "It's challenging you."

"Let's do this," Amelia said, raising her fists and glaring at the pack leader.

The other ghoms stood aside, making way for the two to fight. The leader growled while showing off its large wingspan.

Amelia was not impressed. This angered the pack leader further. It stomped the car's top with its paws. To her it seemed like nothing more than a child throwing a temper tantrum. "Are you going to attack or what?" she asked.

The pack leader screeched its battle cry before jumping at her. She stepped aside and threw herself on top of it, her elbow delivering a hit on her way down.

"Well, that was easy," she said, resting atop the squirming ghom. "Anyone else want some of that?"

The other ghoms bowed to her and chittered. Alrick stared at her with a displeased look.

"How do I tell them to get the hell out of here?" Amelia asked.

"I could translate for you," Jam said. He tried to approach her, but the ghom pack pushed him away. Some even sucked bits of his energy out.

She pushed them aside and went next to him. "Try now."

Jam chittered at them. They all lined up and listened. He screeched and pointed at the wasteland.

Some of the ghoms sat and looked around. One sat and scratched its head with its left foot. Another decided to clean its wings with its mouth. Three other ones rolled on the ground, belly up.

"Very funny," Jam said, not looking amused.

The former pack leader let out some air through its snout as a sign of defiance.

Jam looked at Amelia. "I think they expect you to be the one doing the pointing."

She pointed at the wasteland. He chittered at the ghoms, then screeched again.

The swarm flew off the train and went back to the wasteland. The ghoms found a tree that still had some green growth on it, so they proceeded to suck out its life before digging burrows into the ground.

"Amateurs," Alrick said, crossing his arms as he stared at Jam and Amelia.

With the danger gone – at least temporarily – Amelia focused on the next important matter. "Jam, why didn't you answer when I was calling for you back there? And what happened to Samantha?"

He frowned. "I crashed onto a cube and fell unconscious for a few moments. My armor protected me, so the worst I got out of the crash was some neck pain. Samantha … didn't survive the fall." He pressed the left triangular button of his armor's chest and stared over his right shoulder at his backpack as it opened.

Amelia saw the beige fur of Samantha's back in there. The cat's head, tail, and legs were obscured by the backpack. With a sullen expression, Amelia said, "I'm the worst ally anyone could have."

"No, mom," Jam said. "You tried to save us. It's my fault she's dead. I didn't keep an eye on my battery. And the stupidest part is that I was _surrounded_ by batteries! I just didn't pay enough attention to the assembly lines in the car, otherwise I would have known earlier that the cubes had batteries! I … I messed up big time."

Amelia put her right arm behind his neck and said, "We all make mistakes. Sometimes the only thing we can do is learn from them. And in this case we must also inform Frank … even if he's going to be furious about this."

"Who is Frank?"

"Samantha's partner. He's a tall bear, very kind to people, but he cared deeply for Samantha and protected her whenever she was in trouble. The news of her death will crush the poor bear's soul."

Jam put his hands on his head. "Having Samantha on my conscience was bad enough, but knowing that now there's going to be someone left behind who misses her … it hurts even more."

Alrick couldn't hear what Amelia and Jam were talking about, but he didn't like seeing them that close to each other. He growled as he felt the fire reignite inside him.

The car under him came to a halt as it reached its destination and was preparing to settle between two other cars. That was his cue to run.

"He's getting away!" Jam said, pointing at Alrick.

The car he and Amelia were on found its own place between two other cars near the one it was chasing. Its riders jumped off and continued to follow Alrick on foot.

"I hope he doesn't find more ghoms," Amelia said. "I'm running out of batteries on my belt."

Jam pressed the right button on his armor's chest, causing a hatch to open on the abdominal area. "Do you think you could use batteries like these on it? I've got a few more in my backpack."

The two batteries inside the hatch had a blue glow.

"Unfortunately, they wouldn't fit in my belt. It uses some special, smaller ones made by One for me. I was supposed to return for more of them before he gave me this mission."

"Oh crap," he said, disappointed. Then he saw the massive swarm of ghoms that was heading their way. "Oh crap!"

"There must be at least a hundred of them in there," Amelia said as she watched the red sky get covered by ghoms.

Alrick stopped and screeched at the swarm. Five ghoms landed, their leader challenging him. He won by putting his left foot on its head. This time, instead of ordering them to attack Amelia and Jam, he instructed them to wrap their feelers around his arms and fly him toward the front of the train.

"Great," Jam said. "He's using my idea against us."

Amelia stared at the swarm. "Can you ask some ghoms to carry us as well?"

"You saw how 'reliable' they are. They weren't even aiming for the car. I could have been dropped between cars, and could have fallen under the train."

The ghom swarm was getting dangerously close to them. Amelia and Jam came to a halt. She brought out her e-mailing machine and began typing.

* * *

**To: One  
Subject: Send Alan Dracula!**

**There is a ghom swarm over the train. Please ask Alan Dracula to teleport me and my son to the locomotive right away!**

* * *

She sent it, only to receive this:

* * *

**Sender: One  
Subject: Sorry. Alan Dracula isn't available.**

**He must be dealing with some serious issues somewhere else on the train. I can give you another ride instead.**

* * *

Amelia quickly wrote and sent another e-mail.

* * *

**To: One  
Subject: Hurry then! Send us next to the locomotive!**

**And keep an eye on e-mails in case the car needs to be stopped earlier.**

* * *

The response to that was:

* * *

**Sender: One  
Subject: Strap yourselves in!**

**.**

* * *

Amelia used the harpoons again to anchor herself to the car. Jam didn't need anchoring since his armor was heavy enough to keep him in place.

After elevating itself, the car went on its way toward the train's front. It was fast enough to keep up with Alrick and his ghom pack, much to his annoyance.

The ghom swarm continued to pass over the train, some of the creatures approaching Amelia and Jam's car too close for the duo's comfort.

"Why are they swarming like this?" Amelia asked.

"Usually, they do this when something disturbs them from their slumber," Jam said. "If someone falls off the train or if it rains somewhere in the wasteland, the ghoms will wake up and come to the surface. Then they'll gather and search for any forms of life they could spot. And it looks like we're on the menu right now."

She looked at what was ahead of their car and saw the head of the train. "We're almost there!"

Alrick was being lowered carefully by the ghoms just behind the locomotive.

"And he's already there," Jam said, frowning.

The swarm came down on Jam and Amelia, pushing them off the car. She used her harpoons to hold on to another car's side. Jam used his jets to stop his fall, then he landed on a car near Amelia. After regrouping, they were just three cars away from their destination.

The ghom swarm targeted them again, forcing Amelia to use her sound shield to keep her and Jam safe. "We'll have to go through a car so I can spare the sound shield's battery."

They both jumped onto the bridge that led to the second car, then they made their way to the door.

"Let's hope this isn't the car I think it is," Amelia said while opening the door. After they went in, she scowled. "It's that car."

Jam closed the door and looked around. There were large, crystal hexagons everywhere for walls on the sides of the corridor they were in. Each hexagonal wall portion seemed to show another corridor behind it, but everything seemed different from hexagon to hexagon. "These aren't normal glass walls."

Amelia sighed in frustration. "This is that blasted universe intersection car. Each of these hexagons are windows into other universes. If anyone breaks the crystal that acts as a barrier, they can enter our universe. It has happened before, and I hope it never happens again. At least not if the invaders are hostile."

He touched one of the hexagons with his right hand. "They can invade our universe, just like that?"

"Don't make it easier for them!" she said. Then she brought out her e-mailing machine and quickly typed a message.

* * *

**To: One  
Subject: Connect the universe intersection car to the locomotive! Now!**

* * *

She sent it like that, not even bothering to add anything in the content area. It took mere seconds before the sound of moving gears came from outside – a sign that One-One received the e-mail.

"Let's move!" Amelia said, running through the corridor.

Jam followed her, but he couldn't avoid staring curiously into the hexagonal walls. There was nothing unusual going on in them. "Are we the only ones interacting with this car? The other universes seem … deserted."

"I don't think it's a good idea to interact with the other universes. This car can make you regret your life choices, and you might be tempted to invade other worlds or to try changing your own."

"None of that sounds particularly bad," Jam said.

Amelia looked at him with an expression that clearly meant, _"Are you being serious right now?"_

He continued. "I mean, why shouldn't we question if we're on the right path? Why shouldn't we go explore other worlds? Why shouldn't we try to improve our own?"

Those were some great questions, but she feared the answers to them would be given by the car itself by the time they'd reach the other door. She always saw it as the most depressing place to be in out of the entire train. Lives she could have lived – one of which included her and the original Alrick being together on the train – had taunted her when she explored the corridors with Hazel in the past.

Just then, they ran into a hexagon that showed them as ghoms. Amelia's counterpart looked like a normal ghom, but Jam's was dark green, with a proboscis instead of the long feeler. The Jam ghom also had power armor like his, but adapted to fit a quadrupedal walking style.

"It's like a mirror that alters our appearances," Jam said, waving at his counterpart, who waved back in sync but like a flipped mirror.

Amelia raised her right hand and saw her number on her ghom counterpart's right paw. "Hmm. Interesting. A world of ghoms."

"They're just as confused about there being a world of humans here," Jam said.

"This place can get weird. Let's keep going."

They headed to the left, since that was the only non-blocked path. On a hexagon to their right, they could observe a male deer – possibly Alan Dracula – that walked alongside a doe. Trailing behind the deer pair was a long chain of fawns that didn't seemed to end.

Jam smiled at them and morphed into his human form while passing by the hexagon. A bit further on the same wall, there was a view of a universe in which the car was filled with water.

As soon as he and Amelia were next to that hexagon, two beady eyes and a mouth zipped in to observe them through the crystal. "Hello there, friends! I am Randall from the Randall Empire! Can I interest you in a vacation on the Randall Train?"

Amelia scowled at him. "You took over the train, didn't you?"

"Well, it was abandoned, so I repurposed it. Now people from other universes come here to relax in this water hotel where you can breathe while being under water – because all the water here is Randall!"

"No, thank you," Amelia said. "We're not interested. We need to save our own train." She and Jam continued their journey.

"If you change your mind, I'll be waiting right here," Randall said.

Further into the car, Jam and Amelia ran into a dead end. The hexagon in front of them showed a younger Samantha dressed in a green vest. A tuxedo-wearing tuxedo tom cat accompanied her and their kittens. Three of the kittens were tuxedo cats, and one was beige, just like Samantha.

"Move along, kittens," Samantha said. "There's no telling what kind of people we might find here. Some might be dangerous."

Jam frowned, remembering whose body he carried in his backpack, which he closed at that moment.

The hexagon was lifted into the wall, clearing the path. Jam and Amelia went onward, now going through worse moods.

"Of all the fates she could have had, she just had to die traveling with me," Jam said.

"It was her choice to travel with you," Amelia said.

"But if I had been more careful, she'd still be alive right now."

"We both regret the things we've done, but be glad the worst you've done was to steal some stuff and to have unwillingly caused someone's death due to being careless. That's not even enough to get you a number higher than 500 on this train. I managed to rack up such a high number that it went up to my chin, so you can tell what kind of person I used to be."

Their path was blocked by a hexagon that descended from the ceiling. On the other side of its crystal, the duo could see alternate Grace and ten kids. She said, "This way!"

The kids followed Grace. Alternate Amelia and alternate Hazel were right behind them. Ghom screeching and chittering could be heard just before sixteen of the creatures flew into view. All of them were tied with black ropes. They pulled a golden carriage after them, and inside the carriage sat Samantha and Frank. While the bear blew a whistle, the cat said, "How does it feel to get a taste of your own medicine, Amelia?" Then she laughed maniacally as the carriage went out of the hexagon's view.

"What went wrong in that universe?!" Amelia asked.

Jam said, "I'll hazard a guess: everything."

The hexagon was lifted, allowing Jam and Amelia to progress. They had to take a right turn before being met with yet another hexagon. Beyond the crystal, there was Amelia exactly as she looked 33 years ago, dressed in Alrick's hoodie.

Young Amelia slammed her fists into the hexagon's barrier and screamed, "Let me in! He will kill me!"

Jam readied his right fist. "Stand back! I'll break the wall!"

"Wait!" his universe's Amelia said.

Young Amelia screamed as bullets flew past her. She ran out of view, only to get gunned down by … the Steward. The robot's face was lifted to reveal the Conductor sitting inside its head. He only had one eye and spoke in a robotic, monotone voice. "It's over, Amelia. I saw the future. You're never taking over _my_ train."

A hexagon to the right of Jam and Amelia was lifted into the ceiling.

After turning to see Amelia and Jam, One's eye glared. "Don't even think of invading." He hid himself behind the Steward's mask and opened fire toward Amelia's feet.

Jam grabbed Amelia by the right arm and pulled her into the right corridor before any bullets could hit her.

"I better scrap this car before any alternate Amelias decide to break out of it," One said as he crawled away on the ceiling of his car's corridor.

Amelia and Jam were panting while running away. They stopped at a corner to catch their breaths.

"I am now even more worried that my brother might get himself killed by our universe's One-One," Jam said.

"Just because that other universe's One is ready to kill to defend the train doesn't mean our universe's One will do the same thing," Amelia said. "Even before he gained a split personality, he was still benevolent."

"Let's hurry. I think my brother's already inside the locomotive."

Amelia nodded, then ran alongside him.

Their path was blocked once more by a hexagon.

"Not again!" Amelia said. "We're in a hurry!"

Another Amelia, this time one just as old as her, headed toward them. She held an alternate version of Hazel by the hand.

"Is that Hazel?" Jam asked. "She looks just like the girl in the picture you've shown me."

"My Hazel is a boy, alternate pipsquirt!" alternate Amelia said.

"Oh. Sorry. My bad. He looks like my mom's daughter." He pointed at Amelia with his thumb. "Also, you're probably mistaking me for my father."

Alternate Amelia squinted her eyes at him, then at Amelia. "I see my counterpart from your universe has questionable tastes in men."

"No, no, that's not how I got here!" Jam said, waving his hands in front of himself.

"Hell no!" Amelia said. "My son was created with the train's technology, and his father ended up getting scanned by accident in the process."

Alternate Hazel hid behind alternate Amelia and said, "He still looks like him."

"At least I shave properly and I don't ruin my hair with scrunchies," Jam muttered while crossing his arms and looking to the side. "Also, I have never murdered anyone. Unfortunately, I can't say I haven't gotten anyone killed, even if it was an accident."

"Well, this isn't the strangest universe we've seen here, but it's still a weird one," alternate Amelia said.

The hexagon went into the ceiling. Jam and Amelia continued to walk through the corridor. After they took a right turn, then two lefts and another right, they were blocked once again.

"Come on, car!" Amelia said. "The train's fate is at stake!"

The hexagon to her right was lifted, revealing a new path.

"It seems the car finally understands that this is an emergency," Jam said.

A voice similar to Jam's said, "How do you think we're going to stop him? He's acting like a frickin' lunatic!" 

"And from whom do you think he inherited that part of his personality?" an alternate Amelia asked as she walked alongside an alternate Simon. All the hexagons on the wall to the left showed them and their world to Jam and Amelia's universe.

"I never signed up for this!" Simon said, glaring at her.

Behind them, an alternate Jam followed in silence. He looked exactly like Jam.

"Actually, you _did_ sign up for it the moment you messed with my scanner," alternate Amelia said.

"I was _ten_!" Simon said. "Nobody told me not to touch weird train technology!" He pointed at her. "You should have put your scanner somewhere out of children's reach!"

"How was I supposed to know that children would enter a car where passengers should be asleep?" alternate Amelia asked.

Simon raised his arms. "It happened _twice_! You didn't know? You've got to be kidding me!"

Alternate Jam chuckled. "You two are bickering like an old–"

Alternate Amelia said, "Ugh! No!"

Simon shot him a nasty look. "Don't even go there, Jam! You know I'd rather be under the wheels!" He stopped to look at Jam and Amelia.

Jam and Amelia stopped to look at him as well while alternate Jam and alternate Amelia continued their journey.

"Great," Simon said, glaring at Amelia. "One of these cursed universes wasn't enough. There just had to be _two_ of them."

"Put a sock in it and move, ponytail!" alternate Amelia said.

Simon muttered something angrily before running to catch up with his gang.

"What was that?" alternate Amelia asked, looking with a mean stare at Simon.

He stared terrified at her. "I said, 'Yes, ma'am!' "

Jam and Amelia tried to continue their travel, but were once again blocked by a hexagon.

"Damn it, car!" Jam shouted. "Why do you have to show us all of this?"

"Do you see now why I hate this car?" Amelia asked.

In that hexagon, Hazel ran toward them. She stopped and stared at Jam with her eyes wide as saucers while her mouth opened as she gasped. Then she sat on the floor and started crying, hiding her face with her palms. "I … I'm sorry! I didn't know! I thought he was Simon! I didn't know the real Simon was dead!"

Alternate Grace and alternate Amelia appeared from behind a corner. Grace put her hand on Hazel's left shoulder. "Hazel, I wish we had met again sooner. I would have told you."

"It's not your fault," Hazel said. "I was the one who pushed him. I should have believed Amelia when she said he was my brother."

"This happened 'thanks' to that murder-happy friend of yours, Grace!" alternate Amelia said. "He traumatized Hazel so much that she sees anyone who looks like him as her enemy."

"I'm sorry!" Hazel said, still hiding her face and sniffling. "My brother was so nice to me … He always trusted me. He didn't deserve what I did to him. I hope he can meet some kind people in the afterlife."

Jam gasped as his blood ran cold. "She … She killed him."

Alternate Amelia stared at him with a sad look. So did Grace.

"Now I'm kinda scared about meeting Hazel," Jam said, his face turning green.

"Why?" Amelia asked. "You saw how our universe's Hazel worked alongside your father. If she didn't use her sound shield to obliterate him when she had the chance, why would she try to kill you? Relax. Things don't happen the same way in all universes."

Still looking worried but regaining his full human form, Jam said, "O-okay."

The hexagon was lifted, clearing the path. Jam and Amelia advanced through the corridor at a higher pace than before, but didn't run for fear of getting crushed by other hexagon walls that might come from the ceiling.

In a hexagon to their right, there was an alternate version of One-One. This version had three white eyes on the black stripe between its two white halves. His top eye turned green as he said, in a happy voice, "Hi! I'm One!"

"Hi," Amelia and Jam said at the same time, sounding bored while glancing at him. They continued to walk, only slower.

Alternate One-One's middle eye turned blue, and he spoke with a sad tone. "I'm Two. Please put me out of my misery."

"Sorry, we can't," Jam said.

The bottom eye on the robot turned red and glared at him and Amelia. His voice sounded angry. "I am Three! Stay off my train, you stinkin' aliens!"

"We weren't even planning on visiting!" Jam shouted back while his eyes looked to the right.

"Aw, that's a pity," One said.

"Please don't leave me here sandwiched between these two boneheads!" Two whined.

"Go wheel yourselves, you freeloadin' aliens!" Three shouted.

"That must be one hell of an existence that Conductor is experiencing," Amelia said.

The rest of the travel through the corridor was uneventful up until they found the door. Jam was about to reach for it when a hexagon wall dropped from the ceiling, denying him access to the exit.

"What?! We were so close!" he said.

The back of the corridor also closed behind him and Amelia.

He looked around frantically. "What's going on? This isn't funny, car!"

"Oh, it isn't supposed to be funny," a voice similar to Jam's said. "It's supposed to be an opportunity."

An alternate Simon in a lab coat and holding an electronic tablet walked into view from the right of the front hexagon. He was joined by alternate Grace in a lab coat, alternate Tuba, alternate Hazel in a lab coat, and three blue gorilla children that were obviously Tuba's, judging by the golden brass instruments on their shoulders. Everyone stared at Jam and Amelia through the crystal wall.

Jam said, "Tuba! Don't trust Simon! He's going to wheel you!"

Tuba laughed at him and put her arms over Simon and Grace's shoulders, holding them to her sides. "These two are harmless."

Simon and Grace smiled and waved their right hands at Jam and Amelia. They were both at 0. Hazel joined in and showed her palm too – also at 0.

"I'm guessing you two are from a universe where Simon and I led a cult," Grace said.

"Scary how things could have gone really bad, huh?" Simon said.

Grace brought out a camera from her fanny pack and snapped a picture of Jam and Amelia.

"We just need to know a few things about your universe so we can add more information to our research database," Simon said.

Amelia raised an eyebrow. "You're researchers?"

"Yeah, see, Grace and I met each other on the train after my denizen companion passed away. Since our universe's Amelia never boarded the train, we've never met her, so no cult was created. We helped each other reach zero, but then we realized neither of us wanted to go back to our old lives."

Grace added, "The denizens made us feel more at home here than we've felt in our real homes. So we grew up here. Recently, we met Tuba and her kids, and we were added to her already large family. Then One didn't know what to do with us, since we were at zero for so many years but we refused to leave. In the end he decided to put us to use, so now we're studying alternate universes through this car and reporting our findings to him."

Amelia looked at Hazel. "Was your universe's Hazel created by my counterpart? How does she have a working number?"

"Our Hazel wasn't created," Simon said. "She's just a regular passenger. Her parents died in a car accident, and she ran away from home before she could be taken to an orphanage. The train picked her up, and Tuba adopted her."

Amelia frowned. "Sounds like your universe was better off without me boarding the train."

Simon looked at his tablet and swiped on its screen with his finger. "Can you tell us about how things went for you in your universe, please?"

"It's complicated," Jam said, "and we're in a hurry to save our train."

Simon scowled at him. "You're in a class B universe, so don't give us that 'it's complicated' crap! Complicated would be a class F universe where passengers are four dimensional beings who are sent into a realm where they must solve not only their personal problems, but also the problems of the planets they've created, while their universe's equivalent of One is a twelve dimensional Eldritch abomination!" He took in a deep breath and let it out to calm himself down. "Look, it's clear that you're not going anywhere anytime soon, judging by how the car has trapped you in. So, please, work with us, and hopefully it will let you go."


	10. The Exit

Everyone sat on the gray floor, the researchers facing the people being studied, with a crystal wall separating the two parties.

"Since I've started the whole domino effect," Amelia said, "I'll go first."

Simon prepared to take notes on his tablet. "Sure, go ahead."

"The train came to me because I couldn't find a reason to live after my fiancé Alrick died. Instead of learning to deal with my situation, I usurped the Conductor and used the train's technology to make a copy of my hometown and to try bringing Alrick back. I used my memory tape and ghoms as bases for my experiments of recreating my fiancé."

Simon's eyes went wide. "You used ghoms?! That's right up there with the Amelia who used denizens as bases, and the Amelia who used humans." He turned to look at Grace. "Wait. Do ghoms count as denizens?"

Grace shrugged. "They don't originate on the train here. No idea if it's the same in their universe."

Amelia said, "They're just native wasteland wildlife here. Anyway, after my 33 years of failed experiments, a girl named Tulip Olsen stopped me and made me see the errors of my ways. I started working for the Conductor to make amends. But my past actions led to some terrible consequences. My universe's Grace and Simon started a cult that worshiped me and led to the deaths of countless denizens. Also, when he was ten, Simon got accidentally mixed into my experiments. I scared him and his denizen Samantha away with a ghom I made out of a porter. I still need to check for confirmation on Grace's involvement with my scanner. His – and probably her – interference resulted in three shapeshifting, turtle denizen-human hybrids: Hazel, Jam, and Alrick. Grace and Simon met Hazel, then all three of them met me. The Conductor managed to put Grace and Simon on the right path, then those two became part of my team, along with Hazel. Simon gave up his number so Hazel could get off the train with Grace, then he died trapped in his own tape because I told him to face it alone." She took a moment to breathe.

Simon finished taking notes that far. "Trapped in a tape sounds like a crappy way to die, but it could have been worse. Much, much worse."

"After Simon died, I found out that Jam here," she pointed at her son, "and Alrick, who looks exactly like my fiancé, were being attacked by denizens because they thought Jam was Simon. Jam's on my side now, but Alrick … He's probably in the locomotive, trying to take over the train right now."

"In the what?" Simon asked, looking puzzled.

"I guess that's what they call the engine in their universe," Grace said.

"Yes, the engine," Amelia said. "Alrick believes he is my fiancé, but in reality, he's my created son and uses the name of a dead man. Jam and this new Alrick went through much suffering as a result of my past actions. If I hadn't boarded the train, there would be no cult, and many people who have died because of that cult would still be alive today. And since I wouldn't be there to shoot Tuba's children with a code injecting gun, they wouldn't be ghoms for the rest of their lives either."

Tuba hugged all four of her kids.

Jam said, "Samantha would still be alive too if she hadn't met me. She tagged along on the journey to stop my brother, probably because I reminded her of my father. I … got her killed after crash-landing because I didn't check how much battery I had before jumping from cube to cube in a car."

Simon finished taking notes. Then he looked at Jam and Amelia. "Okay, I see why the car has trapped you."

Jam and Amelia stared back at him, awaiting the explanation.

Simon smiled at them. "You and many other people who enter this car have this mentality of 'the grass is greener on the other side' after seeing the positive 'could have beens' from other universes. What those like you fail to see is that things could have been worse for them or for others. Amelia, you wish our counterparts got the same fates as us, right?"

"Well, you do seem better off than most of the ones from my side," Amelia said, frowning.

"Sure, we seem happy now, but who knows what might happen to each of us in the future?" Simon said. "We could get eaten by ghoms, or slip and fall to the wheels, or even … die due to some horrible disease. And let me tell you, if you get sick on this train, you're very likely to croak if you don't find a doctor with good hospital equipment and medicine."

She nodded. "You're right."

"And you," Simon said, pointing at Jam. "You regret that you got your universe's Samantha killed by accident. But you know what? Her fate could have been worse. She could have fallen ill and agonized for a whole month with nobody but a ten year old child to take care of her before she'd finally pass away." His voice became shaky while his eyes were getting watery. "I held my Samantha's paw in her last moments. After she was gone, I tried to survive on the train alone. I could have died in a desert car if it wasn't for Grace, who carried me out of there to safety and offered me food and water." He brought out a handkerchief from his chest pocket and wiped his tears off, then blew his nose.

Grace hugged him.

He put his handkerchief back in his pocket before being freed from Grace's arms. "Stop thinking that the world would be a better place without you! Try to make it a better place _with_ you. And don't keep dwelling on your failures. Things happen. Get over it! You can't always make things better, but try to do so while you still can, okay?"

Amelia and Jam nodded.

"And don't forget to cherish every moment with the people close to you," Grace said. "If there's anything we've learned from this car, it's that the future is often unpredictable, no matter how similar some of these universes are."

"Then let this universe hit me with all it has!" Amelia said.

"Yeah!" Jam said. "We're ready for it! We'll do everything we can to calm my brother down and save the train!"

"What if you fail?" Grace asked.

Jam swung his right fist. "Then we'll pick our sorry butts off the ground and deal with whatever new situation we end up in!"

"Agreed," Amelia said. "As long as we're alive, we can always find ways to make our world better, and to become better people ourselves." Her number went down to 11.

Grace smiled at them. "That's the spirit!"

The front and rear hexagons started to go back into the ceiling.

"Looks like the car thinks you've learned your lessons," Simon said. "Good luck." He and his team waved at Jam and Amelia until the hexagon fully went into the ceiling.

Amelia opened the car's door and saw five ghoms atop the locomotive. They were guarding the broken door below them. "Jam, get ready for a sprint. I think I have only two more shields left on my belt."

"I'm ready," Jam said.

* * *

The Steward lay on the ground, all tied up in a blue net, trapped behind the desk with the many computers and their monitors – one of which looked like a corgi.

"Give up, One-One!" Alrick said, towering over the Conductor. A curved glass shield sticking out from his armor's neck protected his head at the front. "Your Steward couldn't even put a scratch on my anti-bullet shield. Mostly because it cannot aim even if its life depended on it."

One-One scowled at him and spoke in his Sad-One voice. "It wasn't supposed to aim for you. Those were warning shots. If I wanted you dead, I'd be writing your obituary right now."

Alrick gently pushed One-One away with his left foot. "Well, you lost. The train is mine now." He lowered his glass shield by pressing both of his armor's triangular buttons at the same time.

"Why do you have to ruin it for everyone?" One-One asked as Glad-One.

"Because everyone ruined it for me," Alrick said, crossing his arms. "So either build a car where I can live in peace away from everyone, or I'll send you away and make my own train."

"That's not how this train works!" One-One said as Sad-One. "You're supposed to grow as a person, not hide in your shell for the rest of your life!"

"I'm tired of being hurt by everyone! She should have just left me to rest in peace! I didn't need to be brought back only to suffer because her resurrected new boyfriend killed a bunch of people and decided to travel with me, pretending he was my brother!"

One-One changed to his Glad-One voice. "What are you talking about?" He received a swift kick that sent him rolling into the front wall of a car under construction.

Alrick glared down on him. "You're in on it too, aren't you?"

"Alrick!" It was Amelia, struggling to get a ghom off her back while traveling between the new car and the wall to her right. Once she reached the more spacious area, she threw the ghom to the floor.

Jam entered while unwillingly carrying three ghoms on his back. "Stop this madness, brother!" He shook off the ghoms after getting out of the tight space.

"Why do you two keep following me?" Alrick asked, clenching his fists and glaring at him. "Do you really enjoy seeing me suffer?"

"We're here because we _don't_ want you to suffer!" Jam said.

"So you've decided to kill me."

Jam raised his eyebrows. "What? No! Brother, we're here to explain–"

Alrick put his right hand in front of him. "There is nothing more to explain. Go away! Let me build my own world. You can stay with your lover and with all those enemies you've made, you murderer!"

"I am not a murderer!" Jam yelled. He stomped the floor with his right leg. "I'm tired of being judged for crimes I did not commit! I'm a thief, and I'm also a neglectful person who accidentally got someone killed, but my father's actions are not my own!"

One-One split up. Sad-One went between the brothers and said, "It's my fault. The cult started because I couldn't stop Amelia from taking over the train. You two suffered because the cult killed denizens. And now I'm about to lose the train again because I refused to harm someone to defend it." His eye frowned. "I'm no good at my job. So many people got hurt because of me ..." He walked past Amelia and went between the new car and the wall, heading for the exit.

The four ghoms in the room watched him, hoping for an order to go in for the kill.

"Where are you going?" Amelia asked. "One! Come back!"

Sad-One was already at the door. Glad-One and Amelia came after him.

"I do not want to be the Conductor anymore," Sad-One said. "I do not want to see any more of my failures." He went outside, where a single ghom kept trying to enter the locomotive but always hit the wall instead of going through the door. Sad-One looked at it. "Even this unfortunate creature reminds me of how I failed at what I was supposed to do."

"One, we have no time for this!" Amelia said.

"You don't have to stick around," Sad-One said, staring over the edge of the locomotive. "I can fall by myself."

Her eyes went wide. "What?! One, don't!"

Glad-One rushed in and pushed Sad-One back toward the door. "Don't leave me!" He looked into Sad-One's eye. "If you go, then there won't be a One-One anymore. It will be just One. And one is the loneliest number."

Amelia grabbed Sad-One and hugged him. "You silly half-peanut! This was never your fault! How were you supposed to know that a grieving widow would break your stuff and take over your train? You didn't even have the means of looking into other universes at that time."

"I suppose you're right," Sad-One said. "But how do we stop your confused turtle son from taking over the train?"

"We make him face the truth," Amelia said.

* * *

Inside, Jam and Alrick were having a fight, punching and kicking each other. Jam held back, but Alrick for once was going all out on the hits.

"Go to hell!" Alrick said while throwing punches at Jam.

"I'm already in it!" Jam said, blocking several punches with his arms. "Why else would my own brother be doing this to me?"

Alrick tripped him, causing Jam to fall on the back. Then he rested his right foot on Jam's chest. "We never were brothers."

"We _are_ brothers!" Jam said. "What we never were is Amelia's boyfriend!"

"So, you knew she was playing us from the start," Alrick said. "Why did you choose to stay with her when you could have gone with me?"

"She was playing _no one_! She is our mother! She created us!"

Alrick got his foot off and kicked Jam so hard he ended up rolling on the floor. "She brought us back from the dead! That doesn't make her our mother!"

Jam got back up and raised his fists, ready for round two.

"Jam! Alrick! Stop fighting! Right now!" Amelia said.

Alrick chittered, then screeched and pointed at her. The four ghoms surrounded her and were joined by the fifth, which had trouble maintaining its balance as it arrived.

Sad-One and Glad-One could do nothing but sit and watch.

"I can order them to turn you into a pile of dust if I want to," Alrick said, breathing heavily. "Take your lover and go away. I am barely holding back from becoming a murderer myself."

"Alrick, he is not my lover!" Amelia said. "I haven't been in love with anyone ever since my fiancé died!"

" _I_ was your fiancé!" Alrick shouted while pointing at himself.

"No. My man is dead. You are not him."

Alrick stomped the floor with his left foot. "I don't believe you!"

Amelia smirked. "I think you and Jam have the same father."

Alrick grimaced. "What do you mean, you old hag?"

Amelia laughed at him.

"Explain, you devil of a woman!" Alrick said, swinging his right fist at the air.

"Listen," she said. "You have the number 337 on your right palm, right?"

"Yes. Your coworker told you that. What else did he tell you? My shoe size? Oh, wait, you knew that and _more_ about me before you've met him." He grinned smugly at Jam.

His brother said, "That wasn't you, dude."

Amelia scowled at Alrick. "Jam is not my coworker. Simon is dead as a doornail too."

"Yeah, right," Alrick said. "As dead as I am."

"Do you know what that number represents?"

"That I am your property?"

"Not exactly," Amelia said. "It means you were created using my memories. Alrick has never boarded this train. Therefore I had no way of getting _his_ memories. So I ask you this: do you have any memory that doesn't include me?"

Alrick searched his mind for a moment before saying, "No. But that's because _you_ are all I used to care about."

"Now here comes the harsh reality. How many memories of me being alone do you have? Do you remember me mourning? Do you remember me boarding the train?"

Alrick's eyes widened, appearing even bigger due to his glasses. "I ..." His jaw dropped.

Amelia attacked his mind again. "Do you remember receiving _the_ phone call?"

Alrick looked terrified.

Amelia raised her voice. "Do you remember how it _felt_ to hear that news?"

Alrick's eyes were gaining some tears. "I can't … This is … It's impossible! I ..."

Jam went face to face with him and said, "Brother, I know it's confusing. I have the same memories. It's as if I am her, but at the same time I'm not. Because the reality is … we are her sons."

"Even so," Alrick said, clenching his right fist, "I can't help but notice … that you are her _favorite_!" He used his jets and swung his right fist into Jam's chest.

Jam got sent flying through the door opening of the unfinished car and landed onto a patch that had exposed orbs. Some of the orbs cracked upon impact, causing pieces of the new car's front wall to disappear and allow a large chunk of it to slant forward.

Alrick had an evil grin on his face before realizing he was in danger. The car's wall was falling toward him, so he took a few steps back before trying to jet away. Too late. The heavy chunk of metal came crashing down, trapping the lower half of his body and crushing it in spite of the armor. He morphed into his tortoise form and screamed out loud, causing the ghoms to huddle together behind the desk with the Steward.

"Alrick!" Amelia yelled. She rushed to his left side and put her right hand under Alrick's head.

In spite of the pain radiating from his chest upward, he smirked at her. "This is what it took ... for you to care?"

"You … You fool!" Amelia said, her eyes tearing up. "I started caring from the moment I've learned of your existence! You are my son! I chased you all the way here because I care! Look where your recklessness has led you!"

Alrick morphed back into his human form while crying too. His voice was a whisper. "I'm sorry, mother."

Amelia's number made a sound, but she couldn't see what it changed to. Her palm was still behind Alrick's head.

Jam came out of the unfinished car. "Brother!" He jetted and landed to the right of Amelia and Alrick, then tried to grab the thick metal chunk. "Mom! Help me lift this off Alrick!"

Alrick shut his eyes tight and grimaced while hissing.

"Stop!" Amelia shouted. "You're only causing him more pain!"

Jam took his hands off the fallen wall chunk. "But ..."

Amelia shook her head and sniffled. "We can't save him."

Jam put his hands on his head. "What?! Y-you can't be serious! He's still alive and conscious!"

Alrick tried to say something, but his body was too weak to even let him use his voice. All he could do was move his lips and hope Jam understood his message.

Tearing up and turning green, Jam placed his right hand on Alrick's chest and said, "It's okay. I forgive you, brother. I forgive you."

Alrick's eyes poured the most tears while he gave a strained grin. He took in one last breath and slowly let it out through his mouth. After that, he remained completely silent and still.

While Amelia and Jam sobbed next to Alrick's body, Sad-One said, "Well, guess who's writing an obituary today?"

Glad-One scowled at him.

The five ghoms took off through the door of the locomotive, one by one, screeching as they flew toward the sky.

* * *

The gang stopped by the Le Chat Chalet car, where they participated in a funeral for Samantha. The cat lay with her eyes closed, inside a tiny, full-couch rosewood coffin. She was dressed in a blue, elegant overcoat.

The first to speak was Frank. "Samantha and I have been together through thick and through thin. It pains me to know that this is goodbye. I never expected it to be so sudden, but I understand why she died this way. Her guilt over losing her adoptive son got the best of her, so she chose to protect his son. She may not have been the most honest person, but her heart was in the right place. Farewell, my dear Samantha." He touched her nose with his, then stood in line with Jam, Amelia, and One-One.

Jam, having regained his default color for his human form, found himself being pushed, a bit roughly, by the bear's paw.

"It's your turn," Frank said. Behind his dark glasses, he was glaring at Jam.

Jam stared at the cat's face. It looked almost as if she could wake up at any time – but he knew it would never happen. "I've only known Samantha for less than a day," he said, "but she treated me as if I was her son. I know why, and I appreciate that she learned from her past experiences and tried to be a better person. She even forgave my mom for how her treatment toward my father indirectly led to his demise. Samantha was a good person, and I wish I got to spend more time with her. I wish I had been more careful so she would still be with us today, but I can't change the past. Rest in peace, Samantha."

After he rejoined the line, Amelia stepped up to deliver her speech. "Samantha and I didn't start off on the right foot when we met. But after we became allies, I saw her as a nice host, and a mother who tried her best to make up for her past mistakes. I can relate to her now more than ever, as a grieving mother. I wish we had more time to become proper friends, but life doesn't always give us the opportunities we would like. Rest in peace, Samantha." Her number went down from 3 to 2.

One-One was next. He split up into Glad-One and Sad-One.

Glad-One said, "We didn't really have a good history with Samantha, but we commend her for trying to be a better person."

"And for giving me the opportunity to write two obituaries on the same day," Sad-One said.

Glad-One scowled at him again. "You really like writing those, don't you?"

"It's one of the few things I enjoy doing."

"Right. Where were we? Ah, yes. We wish you a peaceful eternal sleep, Samantha. Ultimately, you were a good cat."

Frank closed the lid of the coffin and lowered it into the ground before covering up the hole with soil and snow. Samantha's grave was at the base of the tall fir tree nearest to the front of her chalet. Frank had engraved her name in the tree's trunk.

"Well, time to get back to our car and head for the turtle people's town," Glad-One said before merging with Sad-One into a sphere again.

* * *

At their destination, Amelia discussed with an old priest tortoise to arrange for a funeral for her deceased son. She, Jam, and One-One participated at it in front of the incomplete church while the priest said the prayers.

Alrick had a half-couch pinewood casket, open to show only the upper, still intact part of his body.

It was time for the relatives and friends of the deceased to hold their speeches.

Jam was first in line. His face turned green as he began to speak. "Alrick, at his core, was a good person. He was my brother, and my only friend for many months until we've met our mother. After that, for the most part, he refused to accept his true identity and kept believing he was someone else. By the time he accepted himself for who he was, it was too late. But I am grateful for getting the chance to mend things between us in his last moments. Rest in peace, brother. I'll miss you." He broke down crying, turning into a softshell turtle again.

Amelia hugged him and patted him on the back. Then she let him go and stepped up as the next person to hold a speech. "Alrick was … my son. We didn't get more than mere minutes together without conflict, but those moments I will cherish. I regret not checking on the last car I've made. Perhaps if I had met him just after he and Jam emerged, things might have gone differently. But we live in a world where that didn't happen, and this was his fate. The one silver lining I see in all of this is that he finally listened to me, and died as himself. Now, with this funeral, I pay my dues as mother to him, and hope he can rest in peace after all the suffering he went through." As she started crying, her number went down to 1.

Jam went to hug her, and they stood like that, comforting each other. He changed back into his human form while resting his head on her left shoulder. She rested her head on his armored left shoulder in return.

One-One split up for the speech. Glad-One was first to talk. "Alrick was a confused and tormented person, but there was a spark of good in him."

"Too bad he let jealousy consume him," Sad-One said. "He could have had a future bright as a candle ahead of him, but he chose to douse it with a flood of anger."

"We hope he has found peace wherever he is now," Glad-One said. "Such a pity we had to lose him right after his change of heart."

"That's life," Sad-One said.

Two tortoise soldiers closed the casket and lowered it into the ground with ropes, then buried it using their sporks as shovels in the church's front yard. There was a tomb stone with the name Alrick Hughes on it at the head of the grave.

"Bye, brother," Jam said.

"Farewell, Alrick," Amelia said.

Jam looked at her. "What do we do now?"

"Now," Amelia said, looking at the 1 in her palm, "we figure out how to get you off this train. So far, we know of one method that worked."

Jam caught her hand between his palms. "I will not accept that solution. Either we both go or I'm not going."

She smiled at him. "Then let's get brainstorming."

* * *

At first they chose to go with a hand mirror. Jam had to get out of his armor to put the plan into action.

He held the small, rectangular mirror on his right palm and saw his own reflection in it. "Hold on a second! Is that … me? How?!"

Amelia said, "Samantha's reflection might have something to do with it." Then she put her numbered palm above the mirror to have her number reflected. "Is this acceptable, One?"

One-One frowned. In his Glad-One voice, he said, "No, I'm afraid the train wouldn't buy it."

"Okay, my turn," Jam said to Amelia.

* * *

They returned to One-One with Jam having painted the number 0 between fancy ticket edge brackets on his left hand, all with lime green.

"Is this passable?" Jam asked.

"That's just paint," One-One said as Sad-One. "It would never work." Then he switched to his Glad-One voice. "Come on, Amelia! Think! Think!"

Amelia sighed. "What else do we have left? Jam's not made of reflective material, we cannot find silver spray anywhere, paint won't work … Hmm, if I could get some lenses, I might be able to create a system that could project my number onto his skin."

"You're overcomplicating things!" Sad-One whined.

"You're right," she said. "Perhaps a camera obscura would be easier to build, as it requires fewer materials."

"You can tell she's an engineer," Glad-One said. Then Sad-One took over. "You don't need to build anything! The solution is in the palm of your hand! You just need to acknowledge it!"

"My number," she said, looking at it.

"I will not take her number!" Jam said.

Sad-One sighed. "For your exceptional case, you don't even need one."

"Then give him an exit!" Amelia said.

One-One switched to his Glad-One voice. "That's not possible. He doesn't have a number."

"Then how is he supposed get off the train when he does not need a number and needs a number at the same time?"

"He doesn't need a _number_ ," was all One-One could give her, in Sad-One's voice.

"Then what _does_ he need?" Amelia asked. At that moment, her eyes went wide. "He needs an exit. If my memory tape thought he and Alrick were me, then … if I get my exit, he might be able to use it too!"

Her number changed to 0, and a door formed in front of them. It opened to reveal a view of her former house.

One-One smiled through his eyes at her. As Glad-One, he said, "Yay! You figured it out!" Then he switched to his Sad-One voice. "I guess this is goodbye."

Amelia hugged One-One. "Thank you for everything. And don't be sad; maybe we'll see each other again in the future. You never know when some new problem pops up."

"One-One," Jam said, "thank you for being kind to my brother, even when he showed you his worst side."

"I do my best to avoid increasing the death count on the train," One-One said as Sad-One.

Amelia placed him on the ground, then grabbed Jam by the left hand. "Are you ready to see what became of Earth?"

"I sure am!" Jam said, smiling confidently at her.

They walked through the door together, then the exit disappeared. Amelia's harpoon pack, watch, belt, and tablet were left behind, since they were train technology. She was allowed to keep her gray suit with the One insignia on her chest as souvenir.

* * *

They popped up in front of Amelia's former residence.

"Will it be weird that I am wearing an academic dress during September?" Jam asked. "I left my hat in the car where I was born, so the attire feels incomplete."

"There is a lot of weirder stuff we'll have to explain," Amelia said. "An academic dress is nothing compared to that."

Jam chuckled. "People will think I'm a wereturtle or something."

"Try not to transform in public until the world is ready for it."

"So, uh, is this where you live?" Jam asked, staring at the all too familiar house.

"It's where I used to live. Thirty three years have passed, so it isn't mine anymore. We'll have to find somewhere else to live. But first, let me check my e-mail."

She brought out her e-mailing machine and checked Hazel's last e-mail.

* * *

**Sender: Hazel Hughes  
Subject: Simon might be my dad?!**

**I'm not sure what to think of that news. And are you implying that Grace could also be my mom?**

**Grace said she did mess with your machine. She also saw lots of ghoms in cages back then. You never told me about that. What were you doing with them? We want to know more.**

**Love, Hazel & Grace.**

* * *

"Well," Amelia said, "time to give them the full explanation and hope they won't be too shocked. After that, I'll have to think of some believable but completely false story to explain my disappearance and your existence to the police. It will have to hold until we can bring out the truth." She started typing away.

* * *

**Two months later ...**

Hazel finished folding a paper crane. She gave it to Grace and said, "This one's for you. I've made two different origami designs for mom and my brother."

"Thank you," Grace said. The crane fit in her palm. "It looks so cute!"

Hazel smiled. "I knew you'd like it! When will mom and Jam arrive?"

"Well, they said it would take them about half an hour–" The doorbell interrupted Grace.

"Yay! They're here!" Hazel yelled, rushing to the door. She opened it and saw Amelia in a black cardigan, black pants, and shoes of the same color. "Mom!" She hugged Amelia's waist. "You're here!"

Amelia bowed toward her and returned the hug before planting a kiss on Hazel's head. "I missed you so much, Hazel!"

"Hey, sis!" Jam said, waving at her. He still had his 337 number on his right hand, but his appearance was very different from the one he had during his arrival on Earth. His hair was cut short, save for the tall crest decorating the middle, from forehead to the back of his head. His chin had a blond goat patch beard. Instead of his academic dress, he wore a light blue, unbuttoned denim jacket showing the black sweater underneath, and light blue jeans. On his feet he wore white sneakers with black laces.

"Brother!" Hazel said, preparing to hug him as well.

Jam caught her and picked her up, hugging her at his chest. "I finally get to meet you! You look cuter in person!"

"You look nothing like Simon nowadays," Hazel said.

Grace looked at him, trying not to laugh at that giant crest of his. "Hi, Jam!"

He put Hazel down and said, "Hi, Miss Grace!"

"Just call me Grace. Hazel's right; you don't look like him anymore. Well, except for having eyes similar to his."

He looked to the side. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you by reminding you of your deceased friend."

"No, no, it's not a problem," Grace said. "I mean, what if he had a twin?"

Jam frowned.

Then she realized she was the one hurting him. "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to open old wounds."

"It's okay," Jam said. "I know you didn't intend to remind me of my brother."

Grace pointed at the room behind her with her thumb. "Come in. Have a seat on the couch or something. I'll go bring some cookies."

"Thanks," Jam said before he and Amelia went into that room, dragging their luggage behind themselves.

* * *

Later in that room there was a wooden table with a large plate full of cookies of the raisin and chocolate chip varieties.

Amelia had an origami daisy in her hair. It was the gift from Hazel. Jam received an origami deer, and he made it rest atop the front part of his crest. Hazel sat on the left part of the couch, Jam in the middle, and Amelia on the right. Grace sat in an armchair to the left of the couch.

"I'll have to get these two DNA tested," Amelia said while pointing at Hazel and Jam. "Assuming they have DNA. I know Jam is, for the most part, Simon's son, but don't go dating him until we figure out if you're his second mother or not, Grace."

"Mom!" Jam said, scowling. "I just met her! No, I'm not counting online chatting as meeting people. And besides, she's still mourning her friend and I'm still trying to figure myself out."

Amelia chuckled at him. "I was joking with that last part, rooster! Don't get your wattles in a twist."

"I think we should go to Lake's talk show first," Hazel said. "It will make it easier to explain human-denizen hybrids to the world that way."

Grace looked at the floor. "I don't know … How are we supposed to tell the world about what happened on the train? Amelia and I don't have the cleanest train records."

Hazel pouted. "But people can learn from your mistakes! Come on! We can stop future bad things before they happen if we let everyone know what denizens are!" She reached out and grabbed Grace's right arm while still being half on the couch. "Please?"

"Well, okay," Grace said reluctantly.

Hazel looked at Amelia. "What do you say, mom?"

Amelia looked at her now empty right palm. "I ..."

Jam grinned and said, "I'm going, and I'm dragging all of you with me, whether you like it or not! Because all of your stories are worth sharing with the world!"

"Fine, I'll tag along," Amelia said, though a hint of anger could be spotted in her tone.

"Yay!" Hazel said, bouncing on the couch. "We're going to meet Lake and Jesse!"

Amelia nodded. "We sure will, but first Jam and I need to rent an apartment. We plan on staying in the U.S. permanently since we don't have a stable residence in the U.K. and you have already settled in your school here. Jam can work from anywhere on his laptop since he's a graphic designer, and I can do the same since I am a programmer."

"You can stay with us until you get your own house," Grace said. "There's plenty of room here."

Hazel raised her hands in the air, the 337 number still present on her right palm. "Yeah, let's be one big, happy family!"

"I suppose we can be a gang again," Amelia said, smiling. "This time without the fear of supernatural creatures trying to eat us."

They all laughed, relieved to acknowledge that they were finally together in a less dangerous world.

* * *

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason this story exists is because someone asked for a sequel to You Must Become the Ghom on another fanfiction website.  
> A lot of elements differ from canon, including Amelia's backstory and One-One having access to alternate universes. Of the confirmed things that differ so far:  
> \- Amelia of this story has never left the UK prior to boarding the train.  
> \- Amelia and Alrick (her fiancé) of this story were able to play Street Fighter on console, even though Street Fighter was at best in the arcades at that time in reality.
> 
> This story was inspired by The Lion King 2, so there are similarities such as Jam being like Kovu minus the romance plot, Alrick (the hybrid) being like Nuka, Amelia being like a benevolent Zira, and Hazel being lightly based on Vitani.


End file.
